Sunday 10 Nov 2013 14:05 – Sunderland v Man City (Stadium of Light)
Referee: Mike Dean
Sunderland Manager Gus Poyet has had an eventful start to his career in the North East; a mauling by Swansea on his debut was followed by the euphoric victory against arch rivals Newcastle, then a disappointing defeat at Hull was followed by a League Cup win against Southampton and a place in the Quarter finals. It does not get any easier this week as they welcome Champions League contenders Man City to the Stadium of Light. City have only won one game away from home in the league this season but they have scored 12 goals in their last two matches in all competitions. They have also just qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions league for the first ever time so a trip to Sunderland should not phase them.
The Sky Blues will be without Fernandinho, Silva, García, Jovetic and Kompany but even with these absences they still have an enviable talent pool to choose from. Sunderland are injury free but will be missing Cattermole and Dossena who are both serving bans for being sent off in the game against Hull.

Sunderland average one goal per game at home but concede an average of 2. City score an average of 1.6 per away game and concede an average of 1.8 and 80% of both teams games have been over 2.5 goals. Sunderland win an average of 6.2 corners and concede an average of 7.2 while City win an average of 7.2 away from home and concede an average of just 3.
Despite City’s poor away record this season it is hard to see any other result than an away win in this game. Manuel Pellegrini seems to have everything moving in the right direction and the away form in the league is the only aspect he has yet to get right. However, if we look at all competitions then City have won three out of the last four away games with the only defeat coming at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. Sunderland have been woeful at home this season and even the win against Newcastle did not provide enough evidence to suggest a revival may be on the cards. A Man City away win with over 2.5 goals can be expected in this game.
Match prediction: Sunderland 1-3 Man City – check out the goal bets and bonuses at Bet365 our preferred bookmaker for football.

 

 

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