Premier League Betting: Sunderland v Everton

Premier League / Richard Walker / 02 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

With the pressure on, David Moyse 'Dogs of War' are exactly the sort of side Sunderland wouldn't want to be visiting the Stadium of Light on Sunday, says Richard Walker Best Bet:Lay Sunderland @ [2.68].

With only Chelsea left to visit Wearside after Everton this Sunday afternoon, Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia must recognise this as the best opportunity his side are going to have to record an all-important three points - a victory would take them up to 38 points and, probably, safety, though they'd not say as much.

Bolton and Portsmouth are the Black Cats' two remaining away games - in consecutive weeks before they end with that visit from the Blues. The pressure is on then; sadly, Everton are just the sort of side you don't want to be playing when that's the case. Lay Sunderland to a [2.68] liability is my shout of the day for this one.

They have the energy and the will - but I don't believe they have the requisite quality to put away a side who're still pushing hard, just because they always do, let alone the fact they want to go into late May's FA Cup Final with some real gusto behind them.

You could back Everton at [2.94] or The Draw, a [3.4] chance, but I'm not certain which of these scenarios I fancy so it's a Lay day for me. You may feel much stronger about one of the Match Odds and, if you do, good luck with your play.

Everton have been hit by the loss of Phil Jagielka, however they're so used to dealing with injuries that you kind of forget they're also without Mikel Arteta, Victor Anichebe, Nuno Valente and Yakubu. Sunderland's two biggest misses are centre-half Nyron Nosworthy and keeper Craig Gordon, although back-up Marton Fulop has performed admirably.

I still think of David Moyes' side as 'Dogs of War' - the title Joe Royle's mid-90s team picked up for their resoluteness. Those hard-to-beat characteristics are still true today and I expect that to translate into a dearth of goals at The Stadium of Light for this Sky Sports offering. Under 2.5 goals, for the less brave, is there for you to get involved with at [1.69] to back (it's [2.4] about Overs) but I don't think you should be shy about grabbing a piece of the [2.96] which is available about an Under 1.5 goals finish.

That goes hand-in-hand with my assertion that the Wearside hosts will find it impossible to penetrate a defence which has only shipped 17 goals away from home this term. A Toffees' Clean Sheet can - and, for me, should - be supported at [3.25]. It's [1.39] to back No, which I find strange despite this being Sunderland's hour of need driving them forward and exposing themselves to counter-attacking possibilites.

Correct Score wise, my eye is drawn to 0-0 at roughly [9.8] and 1-0 to Everton, priced about [9.2]. I certainly think, if you prefer to lay, that scores like 2-1 to Sunderland [13.0] and higher can be offered by you to other Bettors as scorelines which really don't belong to the type of game this will most probably manifest itself as.

Likely someone with a nose for goal - rather than a more unlikely marksman - will unlock this game, if there is to be at least one goal. My old favourite Tim Cahill is [3.4] To Score with home team strikers Djibril Cisse [2.76] and Kenwyne Jones [2.98] among other choices you might want to think about. As he's probably certain to start, I'll be siding with Louis Saha, [3.25] in this list or [8.6] to be First Goalscorer.

Unless Sunderland emerge from their malaise, Saha just might be the scorer of the only goal. Sbragia's boy can ill-afford this to happen.