Football Betting
Wearsiders a Good Bet to Prove a Point Against City
Sunderland’s midweek thrashing of Bolton, their first win since knocking non-league Barrow out of the FA Cup early in January, will have done wonders for their confidence and that of hat-trick hero Darren Bent, and they may be good enough to steal a point from Manchester City at the Stadium of Light this weekend.
Steve Bruce’s men still don’t have much breathing space between them and the relegation places but have always been doing just enough to stay above the dogfight at the bottom and they have been difficult to beat on Wearside this season, only Aston Villa and Chelsea returning home with three points so far. It’s not as if they were made to work particularly hard for their win against 10-man Bolton either, who were already two goals down by the time Sam Ricketts received his marching orders.
Sunderland’s main problem this season has been scoring goals and they badly need last season’s leading light Kenwyne Jones to regain some kind of form. But, thanks in no small part to the form of Michael Turner, they have been fairly miserly at the back in front of their own fans, as shut-outs against Arsenal and Liverpool testify, so City’s forwards will have to be at their best to steal the honours.
Despite the fact that they are still currently favourites to engineer a top four finish, Manchester City’s away form is hardly spectacular for a team chasing a Champions League spot, however. The visitors have only managed four wins on the road so far in the league and only edged the reverse fixture 4-3 at Eastlands in December. One certainly can’t criticise the Sky Blues’ surprise victory at Chelsea last month, when Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy were on fire, but that result, and the fact that the Premier League leaders ended the game with nine men, glossed over the fact that they needed a late goal to scrape a draw at Stoke earlier and were beaten at struggling Hull the time before. The 5/1 odds for a 1-1 scoreline look tempting, therefore, as does the draw at 12/5.
