The Sky Bet Championship weekend continues with two sides at opposite ends of the table meeting at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon when Sunderland take on Portsmouth in a clash which has importance for both teams.
Sunderland sit fourth in the table but will move within a couple of points of the automatic promotion spots with a win here. Portsmouth came out of the bottom three for the first time this season on Wednesday and will want a win to pull further clear of danger.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports+ channel with the build-up beginning at 2.50pm ahead of the 3pm kick off.
Sunderland
It has been a very good first half of the campaign for Sunderland, which wasn’t guaranteed to be the chase with doubts over their managerial appointment heading into the season. They sit in the top four, which probably would have been above expectation when you consider the mess they made of things last term when they sacked Tony Mowbray and went backwards fast. They are firmly ensconced in the top four now and can have a good crack at seeing whether they can make the top two.
The pillar of the form of Sunderland this season has been their home form which sees them undefeated at the Stadium of Light, with the latest victory there coming against Sheffield United on New Year’s Day which will have given them plenty of confidence going forward even though they have a mountain of injuries right now. A win here would leave them in a very encouraging position as they head into the FA Cup break and that has to be their aim now.
Portsmouth
The return to the Championship hasn’t completely gone to plan for Portsmouth so far but if they aim was to stay up and ensure they have another season of second tier football then while things aren’t as comfortable as they would have wanted it to be, they do still have every chance of securing their Championship status for next term. Victory here would move them three points clear of the bottom three and they would still have games in hand of those below them.
If Portsmouth are to win this match then it will involve doubling their number of away wins this season. They have really struggled on their travels this term with just one of their five wins coming away from Fratton Park while 29 of the 40 goals they have conceded this season have come on their travels too. When you factor in the long distance involved in getting to the Stadium of Light, it is fair to say that Pompey are up against it here even if they are carrying the confidence of a 4-0 win over Swansea into the match with them.
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Team News
Regis Le Bris has revealed that he is going to be without the recently injured Chris Rigg, Alan Browne, Ahmed Abdullahi and Salis Abdul Samed and they have all been joined on the sidelines by Dan Ballard for whom a muscle injury will rule him out of the game.
John Mousinho has confirmed that Jacob Farrell is being managed with his workload but Jordan Williams was back on the bench in the win over Swansea and could be involved here. The match comes too soon for Mark O’Mahony, Regan Poole, Conor Shaughnessy and Kusini Yengi.
Betting
It is hard to go against Sunderland in this match. We have an unbeaten home side up against a team who have won just once on their travels this season. Add into the mix the insanely long journey and this just feels like a tough assignment for Portsmouth even allowing for the injuries that Sunderland have. Despite those injuries, they were still able to put a competent and good quality for this level Sheffield United side to the sword on Wednesday night and they clearly enjoy playing at home.
Portsmouth have picked up just two points in their last seven away matches and have failed to score at places such as Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Derby County and Bristol City and I think it is fair to say that Sunderland are a notch up on those. More worrying is Derby scored four against Portsmouth and Bristol City scored three and neither of those are any great shakes. Sunderland are a vibrant side who will control the ball in this game and they should have enough dynamic threat in attack to not just win this but win it well.
Tips
Back Sunderland (-1AH) to beat Portsmouth for a 3/10 stake at 1.81 with Bet365
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