Sunderland-vs-Aston-VillaSunderland vs Aston Villa – Prediction

Aston Villa to win 2-1, A potential 6 pointer. A draw won’t do both these teams any good but that looks to be the case here. Sunderland have looked hopeless over the last few months while Aston Villa have seen a mini-revival of sorts under Tim Sherwood.

Draw would be the safe bet to be honest but we feel a little adventurous and are backing the Villains to make it back to back Premier League wins. Christian Bentenke might just make it to the scoresheet.

 Sunderland

Jermain-Defoe

Defoe will be Sunderland’s main goal threat against the Villains (Dailymail)

The Black Cats come into this match on the back of a 1-1 draw versus Hull City last week. They are still dangerously floating above the relegation spots and desperately need a good run of results to ensure they don’t get themselves tangled in the relegation battle come the last few weeks of the season.

They’ve won just four games all season and only two of those have come at home. A more miserable stat is that they have just one game in the league since Christmas and picked up just 7 points during that duration. They’ve won just one league game since Christmas and have only managed 7 points during that time.

Sunderland play the likes of West Ham, Arsenal, Stoke City, Southampton, Everton and Chelsea in 6 of their last 10 games so a win here is crucial and all the more important because Villains are point behind them at this stage of the season.

Sunderland has a dreadful record against Aston Villa at home winning just one and losing five times in their last eight meetings.

Sunderland have drawn 14 league games thus far and are just three more draws away from equaling Premier League record of 17 currently held by Newcastle(03/04) and Aston Villa(06/07).

Sunderland will be missing both Lee Cattermole who serves the first of his two game suspension for picking up 10 yellow cards for the season and Adam Johnson who is still suspended by the club because of Police investigation.

Check out our Predictions for this week on the “News” section

Crystal Palace vs QPR

Leicester vs Hull City

Arsenal vs West Ham

West Brom vs Stoke City

Burnley vs Manchester City

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 Aston Villa

Christian-Bentenke

Is Bentenke back to his best? He scored one and provided another during his sides 2-0 win over baggies last week (express)

Since Tim Sherwood took over as the Villa manager a month back the Villains have seen a drastic change in form picking up 3 wins in the last five league and cup games during that time.

The last of those two wins came against West Brom in the space of three days in the FA Cup and League respectively.

The win against the baggies in the league last week was only their 6th this season and has helped them move three points clear of QPR in 18th spot. The win also put to an end a run of 7 consecutive game losing streak.

A win will help Villains move ahead of Sunderland to 16th in the table but it won’t be easy especially due to the fact that they are team that have scored just 15 goals all season in 28 games..

During their last league win against West Brom Agbonlahor brought to an end to his 15 game goal drought while Bentenke also brought an end to his 10 game goal drought. Aston Villa however have lost their last six away games consecutively without scoring a single goal.

Christian Bentenke is fit again for Villa after he missed his sides’ 2-0 FA Cup win over the Baggies. Ron Vlaar and Kieran Richards are doubtful for the clash while Alan Hutton and Jack Grealish are both suspended.

Past Meeting

The last time these two teams met this season it ended in a goalless draw and will be one of the contenders for the most boring game come the end of the season. The only notable incident in the game was a red card to Fabian Delph of Aston Villa in the 2nd half.

Where they are in the table

16th – Sunderland – 28 games – 26 points – (-16 GD)

17th – Aston Villa – 28 games – 25 points – (-23 GD)

 

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