Sunderland travel to Hillsborough on Friday night, looking to get back to winning ways as they face basement boys Sheffield Wednesday.
Newly promoted Wednesday achieved play-off promotion from League One against Barnsley in a 1-0 win, with Josh Windass scoring the injury time winner for Darren Moore’s side. This came after a stunning comeback in the semis, overturning a four-goal deficit to win the tie 5-3 on penalties in the second leg against Peterborough.
It’s been a rough start to Wednesday's season, with Darren Moore leaving his position as manager soon after the Owls’ promotion. They’re now the only Championship team yet to secure a win this season, sitting bottom of the table with only two points from eight matches this season.
The Black Cats currently sit in fifth place with thirteen points from eight games this season. Last time out against Cardiff City, they suffered a frustrating 1-0 defeat as Mark McGuiness found the back of the net in the 87th minute despite the Bluebirds being on the back foot for the majority of the game. This brought Tony Mowbray’s run of three wins to an abrupt end.
Ukrainian striker Nazariy Rusyn also made his debut against Cardiff. It was only a brief cameo though so it is hard to predict his ability and how he will find playing Championship football. He looked sharp against Derby’s U21s at Eppleton during the week, so hopefully that’s a good sign and he can chip in with a few goals this season.
My prediction is a 2-0 win to the Black Cats. The last time we played them was in the EFL Cup in August 2022 and they beat us 2-0 in the first round. However, manager Xisco Munoz is facing immense pressure and things are looking pretty bleak at Hillsborough, so I’m going to predict the win for Sunderland.
