Sunderland v Watford Betting Tips

Watford were ground down by a disciplined Man City side midweek at the Etihad, and now find themselves in 11th place after three losses in their last four games. Sunderland’s spirited performance was not enough to hold back the tide of Chelsea as the league leaders stretched their winning run to 10. The hosts thus remain at the bottom of the Premier League pile, albeit narrowly, and will be chasing a win against a Hornets team on the skids – they were 7th after 10 games.

Sunderland can take confidence from the fact their only two losses in their last five at home were to high-fliers Chelsea and Arsenal, and while their fixtures remain tough over the festive period (they will face Man U, Burnley and Liverpool in the week after Boxing Day) they have gone W7-D4-L4 at home against non-top eight opposition since the start of last season. With four losses in their last six rounds, Watford will be desperate to take home three points, but with Troy Deeney out of the goals for the last 10 games and Odion Ighalo goalless in 13, it is hard to see where the goals will come from.

We’d certainly side with Sunderland with some cover on the draw in this one (they’re 1.75 Draw No Bet), but since five of the last seven Watford away games have featured fewer than three goals, and Sunderland have failed to score more than one in five of their last eight home games, the best bet looks to be Under 2.5 Goals.