Coventry vs Sunderland prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-25 14:00.
After just three games of the Championship season, Coventry City have already felt football’s full array of emotions, with their 1-1 draw with Swansea last time out meaning they’ve lost, won, and drawn their opening three league fixtures respectively. Suffering an early elimination from the Carabao Cup at the hands of League Two side Wimbledon probably sways Coventry’s early season outlook more sour than sweet, but manager Mark Robins insisted “everybody needs to be patient” as he hopes to build his side up for another promotion charge after a heartbreaking loss in last season’s play-off final.
In the same sentence Robins mentioned his side’s “brilliant supporters”, and a return to the Coventry Building Society Arena, where they’ve lost only once in their last 11 matches (W6, D4), can only help in their quest to replicate last season’s achievements. The Sky Blues may run into some turbulent air in that pursuit though, after losing both their top two scorers from last season in Viktor Gyökeres to Sporting Lisbon and Gustavo Hamer to Sheffield United.
Opponents Sunderland were victims of a woeful start to the season themselves, after also suffering Carabao Cup anguish against League Two opposition in Crewe, a result sandwiched between losing their opening two Championship games 2-1 to Ipswich and Preston. They did manage to open their account last time out, however, securing their own 2-1 win over Rotherham.
That was thanks to a brace scored by their new signing, 17-year old Jobe Bellingham, the younger brother of England and Real Madrid star Jude. The Black Cats will be hoping the youngster produces a similar performance here as they aim for their first win away to Coventry since April 1985 (D4, L7), more than 20 years before Bellingham was born!
Players to watch: Coventry’s Matty Godden has found the net in three successive games, with all those goals serving as the match opener. Meanwhile, Sunderland’s Jack Clarke scored against Coventry last season, thereafter going on to score six of his last eight Championship goals away from home.
Hot stat: There have been less than 2.5 goals scored in 11 of the last 14 H2Hs.