Sunderland v Stoke Betting Tips

Sunderland’s 0-0 draw with Burnley in the FA Cup was less than riveting, but they now face the prospect of a game against a strong Stoke side while missing players such as Didier Ndong, Lamine Kone and Wahbi Khazri as they depart for the Africa Cup of Nations. Burnley’s shock defeat to Wolves in the FA Cup made it three consecutive away losses in all competition, and they will be keen to put that record to rights this weekend when they face this weakened Black Cats outfit.

The problem for Stoke is that their record against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light is very poor. They’ve won just once there since 2004, and while they did beat them 2-0 at home earlier in the season and they’ve won three of their four games against bottom-six sides this season by a two-goal margin, Sunderland have not lost in their last three home tilts against middle-third sides. The only two sides to beat Sunderland at home since September were Chelsea and Arsenal, so the Black Cats should feel confident of taking something from this encounter, despite the seven places and nine points separating these two teams.

Sunderland may be fielding a weakened team, but given Stoke’s dismal away form of late and Sunderland’s record against Stoke at home, we reckon Moyes’s men could take three points from this fixture. The home win looks long at 3.1.