Sunderland vs Luton prediction: ENGLAND: Championship – Play Offs betting tips on match 2023-05-12 16:30.
An unforgettable last day of the regular Championship campaign ended with Sunderland securing a play-off spot to keep alive their hopes of back-to-back promotions. They’ve been handed a tough assignment as they come up against third-place finishers Luton Town, who were playing in the National League as recently as 2013/14. It remains to be seen just how much effort the Black Cats expelled in Monday’s 3-0 win at Preston, though that result needed to be complemented with a defeat for Millwall (who led by two goals at half-time!) against Blackburn to ensure Sunderland snuck into sixth.
Coach Tony Mowbray called it “an incredible scenario” and given that victory extended their unbeaten run to nine matches (W4, D5), they enter the play-offs bang in form. Regardless of their lengthening injury list, the atmosphere at the Stadium of Light should boost their resolve to dig deep as the hosts are unbeaten across their last five games here (W1, D4), although they’ll be acutely aware another draw would leave them with an uphill task in the second leg.
Luton coach Rob Edwards hinted as much after their goalless home draw against Hull City on the final day, stating that they want to be “well in the tie coming back here on Tuesday,” with the Hatters boasting the advantage of hosting the second-leg. That stalemate against Hull stretched their unbeaten run to 14 games (W8, D6), potentially giving the Hatters enough tailwind to change the tide in a H2H fixture that has yielded just a single win since April 1995 (D5, L7).
All five draws in that sequence ended 1-1, which was coincidentally the case in five of their six stalemates seen in a 12-game unbeaten away league streak they’ve stitched together since Christmas (W6). Defensive solidity underpinned that run and the visitors could again be banking on their rearguard that leaked the fewest away goals in the regular season (GA 18) to extend that impressive travelling record.
Players to watch: The darling of home fans, Amad Diallo has scored four of his last five league goals at this venue, including the equaliser in a 1-1 H2H draw. His thunder could be stolen by Carlton Morris, who contributed to goals in each of his last five league matches for Luton (G4, A2).
Hot stat: Sunderland are unbeaten at home in play-off action across all leagues (W6, D1), winning the last five.