Sunderland v Bournemouth Betting Tips

Sunderland suffered a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Wednesday night, a result that more or less consigns them to the drop: they are 12 points from safety with five games left to play, and with games against Arsenal and Chelsea (both away) to close out the season there is little hope of them getting the requisite points to survive. This week they host Bournemouth, who recovered from bruising losses to Chelsea and Spurs to beat Middlesbrough 4-0 last weekend. They’ll look to take advantage of the extra rest to secure a good result at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland have been dreadful against middle-third teams this season. They’ve lost seven of nine winless matches against middle-third opposition, and they’ve failed to score in six of the last seven games in this run. They’ve managed to secure three draws in their last six at home, but their winless home run now stretches to eight games, and they’ve failed to score in five of the last six in this run. Fortunately for them, Bournemouth are winless in their last seven on the road, so despite winning three of their last five against bottom-six sides to nil (each of which came by at least two goals), Sunderland might hold out some hope of keeping Bournemouth at bay.

Sunderland will recognise that Bournemouth’s away form should give them some opportunities, but they’ve been awful in front of goal recently and Bournemouth have produced some wins against bottom-six sides. We’ll back the Away Win.