Sunderland vs Fulham prediction: ENGLAND: FA Cup betting tips on match 2023-02-07 19:45.
In what was already their deepest journey into an FA Cup since 2014/15 after three successive first round eliminations, EFL Championship playoffs contenders Sunderland earned their fans an FA Cup fourth round replay at the Stadium of Light with a gritty 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage. Excitement might be starting to build in the Black Cat fanbase, as the opportunity to host Leeds United in the fifth round awaits if they can get past the Londoners.
After just one loss from their last nine competitive fixtures (W4, D4), a defeat which was preceded by a red card inside the first 20 minutes, Sunderland should be confident of pushing Premier League (PL) club Fulham all the way. A run of five competitive games without defeat as pre-match outsiders (W2, D3) further illustrates their capabilities of testing a team in England’s top flight.
Fulham have had one day less to prepare for this replay after following up their home clash against Sunderland by taking PL points off Chelsea for the second time in three weeks (0-0). Despite threats from manager Marco Silva to drop any player who did not take this tie seriously, he was made to rue “a cheap goal” conceded and “some important challenges” lost in the first match as they failed to defeat a lower-tier club for the first time since losing 2-1 to Oldham Athletic in 2018/19.
Scoreless efforts against Newcastle (L 1-0) and Chelsea (D 0-0) with some of their strongest XIs followed a period of nine consecutive competitive away trips in which they found the back of the net (W5, L4). It therefore may not surprise if Silva demands more from his biggest weapons such as Aleksandar Mitrović and Willian, neither of whom started in the previous leg, as they seek their first fifth round appearance since 2016/17.
Players to watch: Sunderland forward Jack Clarke has produced a goal and assist in his last two FA Cup appearances, whilst Fulham defender Layvin Kurzawa followed up his match-opening strike against Hull in the third round by setting up his captain Tom Cairney for their only goal against Sunderland.
Hot stat: All but one of Fulham’s last seven competitive fixtures produced fewer than 2.5 total goals.