They began with a rather promising 2-1 defeat at Manchester City, but their 2-1 loss to north east rivals Middlesbrough at home was much less promising. Their first win of the season came in the League Cup against Shrewsbury Town, and back in the Premier League they earned their first point of the season at Southampton.
Sunderland returned to losing ways when they hosted Everton though, with a Romelu Lukaku hat trick resigning them to a 3rd defeat of the season. Their trip to White Hart Lane yielded a 1-0 defeat to Spurs, but in all honesty this game could have ended about 5-1 with the amount of chances the home side got against Sunderland’s defence.
On the plus side, Sunderland did manage to extend their stay in the League Cup with a 2-1 win over QPR in midweek, but back in the Premier League they sit second from bottom, only beaten to the bottom spot by the defensively awful Stoke.
Crystal Palace enjoyed a good start to the season last term before tailing off dramatically and ending up in the relegation battle. Like last season, they have started this term in the Premier League well.
They did begin with back to back 1-0 defeats to West Brom and Spurs, but a 2-0 win over Blackpool in the League Cup spurred them into action. They earned a point at home to Bournemouth next time out, and their first win of the season followed at Middlesbrough. Last weekend they dished out a 4-1 thrashing to the dreadful Stoke, although in midweek they did suffer a knockout blow in the League Cup at Southampton.
Crystal Palace will be flying high after their drubbing of Stoke last week, and they have already showed that they can do it away from home with a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough. Sunderland, on the other hand, have lost both of their away days in the Premier League so far this season and have lost four of their five games in the league. This makes odds of 1.800 for a Crystal Palace 0.0 Asian Handicap Win look a good value bet to me, so I’m backing that along with a 2-1 correct score prediction at 10/1.
Head To Head Sunderland vs Crystal Palace
These two have a very even recent history, with both Sunderland and Crystal Palace winning two, drawing two, and losing two of their last six meetings.
Predictions Sunderland vs Crystal Palace
I expect this to be a close game on Saturday which is likely to be settled by a single goal if at all. I can't split this one, Palace on paper look the safer option on the +0AH line but I will be bold and back the draw.
Crystal Palace are 3 unbeaten but have only won 1/8 away games. Sunderland got a result midweek in the cup and need to start picking up points in the league. So far at home they are pointless but they have only lost 3/8 home games.
I can't trust Sunderland to grab all 3 points similarly this seems the type of game which Palace would take a point from especially after their midweek cup exit, 1-1.
The last 5 matches of Sunderland
18.09.2016 Tottenham Hotspur - Sunderland 1:0 L
12.09.2016 Sunderland - Everton FC 0:3 L
27.08.2016 Southampton FC - Sunderland 1:1 D
21.08.2016 Sunderland - Middlesbrough FC 1:2 L
13.08.2016 Manchester City - Sunderland 2:1 L
The last 5 matches of Crystal Palace
18.09.2016 Crystal Palace - Stoke City 4:1 W
10.09.2016 Middlesbrough FC - Crystal Palace 1:2 W
27.08.2016 Crystal Palace - Bournemouth 1:1 D
20.08.2016 Tottenham Hotspur - Crystal Palace 1:0 L
13.08.2016 Crystal Palace - West Bromwich Albion 0:1 L
Tag :
English Premier League
