Sunderland are set to play hosts to Hull City, this Saturday 9th at the Stadium of Light. After an influx in COVID-19 cases, the match, which was previously to be held on Boxing Day, has been rescheduled to the aforementioned date, and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
The match, which is an evening kick-off (7:45pm), sees Sunderland up against it, as Hull City currently sit in second place, and are on a tremendous run of form. Hull picked up a win themselves in their last outing, by way of a 2-0 home win against 6th placed Charlton. In turn, Sunderland played out a scoreless 0-0 draw away at 19th placed Northampton, which left fans with a sense of disappointment, as we should be beating struggling teams like Northampton if they are to challenge for promotion.
Sunderland’s home record so far in League One this season is definitely a mixed bag. At this point, they have accumulated three wins, three draws and three losses when playing at the Stadium of Light. This stat shows a certain inconsistency to Sunderland’s home form, meaning the match this weekend really could go either way.
Hull’s away record so far, sits at six wins, one draw and three losses. Their away record is by far more impressive than Sunderland’s this season, winning twice as many of their games, while maintaining the same amount of losses.
It is no secret that Sunderland have struggled for goals so far this campaign. Only scoring 23 goals in their 18 games, they definitely haven’t been scoring for fun as of late. However, defensively we have been more than solid, only conceding 14 goals and keeping a number of impressive clean sheets.
In terms of goalscoring threat, Hull are far and beyond Sunderland, scoring 31 goals so far this campaign. Their midfielder and former SAFC captain George Honeyman currently leads the assist tally for the entirety of League One, with 8 so far this campaign. Defensively, the side has been solid. Not quite in the same way that Sunderland have, but Hull City have only conceded 18 goals in 19 games, which is certainly not a bad record.
Saturday night brings about a real test for us, as we look to take all three points against a team in real promotion contention. With both teams having excellent defensive records, the game should be a tense and cagey affair from the first whistle to the last.
I predict a tense game, with 1-0 victory for the Lads
