Sunderland v Leicester City Betting Tips

Perhaps the most interesting of Saturday’s 3pm kick-offs sees bottom of the table Sunderland host Champions Leicester City – a team who right now look nowhere near as good as they did last year.

Although they are still bottom of the league, Sunderland have made a miraculous recovery in recent weeks. First by beating Bournemouth away before trouncing relegation rivals Hull City 3-0 at the Stadium of Light. Of course they did lose their last match away at title contenders Liverpool but it must be said that The Black Cats put in an extremely good performance and were unlucky not to take a point away from Anfield after a solid defensive display.

Despite the fact they are in 20th, David Moyes’ side are only three points off safety and are not cut adrift by any means. The North East side have quite a bit of confidence running through their veins, which I doubt the Liverpool result damaged, and will feel that they can once again survive in the top flight.

Sunderland may have won just one home match all season but actually they have not been too bad. They managed a draw against mid-table West Bromwich Albion whilst they stupidly turned a 2-1 win into a last-minute 3-2 loss against Crystal Palace back in late September.

After a few disasters at clubs in recent seasons, David Moyes gets a lot of flack but he is actually a very astute manager – something we are finally starting to see again. The Scotsman is a good fit for Sunderland as he demands desire and commitment and showings of this by Sunderland players in recent matches means that Sunderland fans are now starting to get back on side. The Black Cats will certainly feel they have a good chance against an out-of-sorts Leicester City side.

Nobody expected Leicester City to put up another title fight after last season but, at the same time, nobody expected them to be as low down as 14th and just two points above the drop-zone. The Foxes have of course been focusing on the Champions League this season and therefore their domestic form has suffered, however, with qualification into the last 16 now ensured, Claudio Ranieri’s team can devote more thought to the bread and butter of the Premier League.

This devotion is really needed right now as The Foxes have not won a league match in over a month. They somehow managed to sneak a draw against newly-promoted Middlesbrough thanks to Islam Slimani’s penalty which was virtually the last kick of the game. Whilst many would say a game against the bottom side is a good opportunity to get back on track, Leicester will not relish a trip to a revived Sunderland by any means. Particularly when we consider that The Foxes have a terrible away record this season – they’ve taken just one point in six matches away from the King Power so far this campaign. This puts them second bottom of the away form table, ahead of Burnley by one goal. If Leicester are not careful, this sort of record away from home could see them sucked into a relegation battle.

I personally cannot see Leicester getting anything out of this match and think Sunderland should win, however, I have also gone for a bit of a landing cushion with ‘Draw No Bet’ at a profitable 11/8. I am immensely surprised that the odds on this give that much of a profit margin, especially when you consider Leicester’s away form. Sunderland look like a team with a lot of confidence going up against a side who are really struggling at the moment. A positive result for the home side seems very likely here.

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