Sunderland vs Birmingham prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-11-10 12:30.
Inconsistency continues to plague Sunderland’s season, with the Black Cats failing to win four of their last five Championship matches (D1, L3). Three of those games have seen them fail to score, including the 0-0 draw with Swansea last weekend that left boss Tony Mowbray frustrated as his side failed to translate “total domination” into victory against a side who played for an hour with ten men.
Sunderland fans will therefore be pleased to see Birmingham City make the long 402-mile round trip to the Stadium of Light this Saturday lunchtime, as they’ve not lost a home H2H since 2006 (W4, D2)! That run includes a 2-1 come-from-behind victory during their late charge into the play-off places last season, and another positive result here would see them climb into the top-six ahead of the weekend’s action.
Birmingham travel north in poor form of their own, and with only two wins since the start of September, a positive start has begun to nosedive. The controversial appointment of Wayne Rooney as manager has yet to bear fruit (D1, L3), with the former England captain denied his first victory as Blues boss by conceding twice in the final 15 minutes in a 2-2 draw with Ipswich last weekend.
Rooney chose to focus on the positives, insisting he is “seeing improvement every week” from his players. Eventually that has to translate into results though, and as Birmingham have slipped from the top-six down to 15th since his appointment, it needs to happen quickly. Undermining that has been rocky away form, as the Blues have suffered five successive travelling defeats in league action – only three sides in the division have accumulated fewer points away from home.
Players to watch: Sunderland’s Jack Clarke is the Championship’s joint top scorer ahead of the round, and will be confident of moving into the outright lead given that scored and assisted in his last home match. Birmingham’s Jay Stansfield is a man in-form after scoring in successive matches, both of which were his side’s first on the day.
Hot stat: Birmingham have conceded a goal from the 74th minute onwards in all four matches under Wayne Rooney!