Sunderland head to Southampton in the Championship this weekend.
Sunderland make the long journey down to the south coast to face Southampton in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Dodds‘ side go into this game on the back of a five-game losing streak after a 1-0 defeat vs Leicester City in midweek.
The Black Cats are now one of only three teams in Europe’s top divisions to lose their last five games, and they could suffer a sixth-straight defeat for the first time since the 2005/06 season.
Southampton meanwhile sit in 4th place of the table, ending a run of three-straight defeats in all competitions with a 4-3 win vs Birmingham City last weekend.
David Prutton predicts 3-1 win for Southampton against Sunderland
Giving his score predictions for this weekend, Sky Sports pundit David Prutton backed the Saints to claim all three points at St Mary’s this weekend.
He predicted a 3-1 home win, adding:
“Southampton didn’t have a game in midweek and that has left them adrift of the top three right now. They cannot really afford a single slip-up between now and the end of the season, because the pace among the leading pack is just ridiculous.
“Sunderland are drifting badly. Five defeats on the bounce and they are lucky they’ve still got a real cushion over the sides near the bottom or things could get worrying. You never know what could happen, but I can’t see them getting anything at St Mary’s on current form.”
Bad to worse for Mike Dodds and Sunderland
Like Prutton says, Sunderland are drifting hard right now.
They’re in free fall and now find themselves a point closer to the bottom three than the top six, and if the bottom teams keep on winning games then Sunderland could easily find themselves in trouble very soon.
There’s still 30 points to play for and Sunderland only have a nine-point buffer between themselves and the bottom three; another few defeats could surely see that gap close, and then it would be frantic.
And matters really don’t get any easier with a trip to Southampton, especially after the Saints’ midweek game was postponed.
With no Jack Clarke in the side, Sunderland just seem a bit limp. They’re lacking that killer instinct and the misfiring Luis Hemir just isn’t providing the goods right now.
If Sunderland can get on the scoresheet this weekend that that would be a slight positive, and if they can take anything at all from the game itself, that would be a massive result.
Kick of is at 3pm on Saturday.