Preston vs Sunderland prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-11 14:00.
Both Preston North End and Sunderland head into Saturday’s encounter looking for their first victories of the Championship campaign. Preston salvaged a draw at Bristol City on opening weekend thanks to debutant Will Keane’s late equaliser, but after being dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two outfit Salford City on penalties in midweek, Ryan Lowe will be looking for his team to bounce back with three points here.
That may prove easier said than done though, as an injury-hit North End have failed to win either of their opening two league fixtures in each of the past three seasons. Aiming to end that record of slow starts here, the Lilywhites will also have half an eye on avoiding a replication of their form from the beginning of last term, when they failed to score in five of their first six league games, with all five of those matches finishing 0-0!
Tony Mowbray was flabbergasted by the minimum 13 minutes of second-half stoppage time added on during Sunderland’s meeting with Ipswich Town, even though the longer-than-usual addition almost allowed the ten-man Black Cats to snatch a draw having been 2-0 down. Finding themselves in a similar position to Preston, Sunderland also exited the Carabao Cup on penalties against League Two opposition in midweek, with Crewe inflicting a defeat Mowbray will be keen to forget in a hurry.
Remarkably, Sunderland hadn’t tasted defeat in their opening two league games in any of the past six seasons (W6, D6) prior to the Ipswich loss, and although their recent H2H record against Preston paints a bleak picture (W1, D2, L5), their most recent memories of Deepdale are happy ones after a second-half blitz wrapped up a 3-0 win in May to secure a play-off spot.
Key battle: Preston goalkeeper Freddie Woodman began his career at Sunderland’s arch-rivals Newcastle United, and in 2022/23, kept an eye-catching 17 league clean sheets. Looking to give him plenty to think about will be Dennis Cirkin, who netted five times from left-back last campaign and provided the assist for Dan Neil’s consolation against Ipswich at the weekend.
Hot streak: Preston haven’t scored in the first half in any of their last eight Championship matches.