Sunderland vs Newcastle United Preview

October 21, 2012
By: Deke Hardman

This Sunday afternoon sees Sunderland host Newcastle at the Stadium of Light in the 148th Tyne-Wear derby, with both sides looking to bounce back from their respective 3-0 defeats to the blue and red half of Manchester.

The hosts, whose defeat to Champions Manchester City was their first of the season could have Phil Bardsley and James McClean available following their respective injuries, whilst Titus Bramble is doubtful with a hip problem and Lee Cattermole completes a three game ban.

Scotland striker Steven Fletcher, who has scored all five of Sunderland’s league goals this season will once again lead the line, and is favourite to get the first goal of the game, with a variety of bookmakers offering the best price of 6.5 (11/2).

Despite having lost just once, the Black Cats have only won one league game in fourteen attempts, and also fell to a 1-0 defeat in the corresponding fixture last term.

Martin O’Neil’s side are narrow favourites to win the game, at a price of 2.62 (13/8), with Newcastle at 3.0 (2/1). The draw is available at 3.3 (23/10) with Bet 365.

Newcastle will assess the fitness of Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Tim Krul and Danny Simpson ahead of Sunday’s game; all four missed the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United last time out.

The Magpies, who currently sit tenth in the table, have lost just one of the past fifteen meetings with their local rivals, winning eight times. There hasn’t been a goalless draw between the sides in the Premier League era.

With seven goals, Shola Ameobi has scored more than any other player in this fixture. With the striker unlikely to start the game, you might be tempted to take advantage of the hugely generous offer of 13.0 (12/1) from Bet Victor for the older of the Ameobi brothers to score the last goal of the game.

Sunderland have had four men sent of in the last four meetings with Newcastle, and Paddy Power offer 6.0 (5/1) for them to do so once more, while you can get a huge price of 19.0 (18/1) with the same firm for both sides to have a player dismissed.

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