Sunderland take on Birmingham City in the Championship this weekend.
Sunderland at Birmingham City should be one of the standout games in the second tier this weekend.
There’s a lot riding on this game for both teams; Sunderland have dropped down to 10th after midweek defeat vs Huddersfield Town, but a win could lift them right back up into the top six, whilst Birmingham City are looking to extend a six-point gap to the bottom three.
On top of that, the game sees Birmingham City boss Tony Mowbray go up against the club who sacked him just a couple of months ago.
His opposite number in the dugout, Michael Beale, has had a mixed start to life at the Stadium of Light, with another defeat here bound to pile some pressure onto the 43-year-old.
David Prutton tips Birmingham City to beat Sunderland
Offering his score predictions for the weekend games in the Championship, Sky Sports pundit David Prutton predicted a 2-1 win for Birmingham City against Sunderland.
It would mark back-to-back wins for Blues who beat Blackburn Rovers in midweek, and it would leave Mowbray with a record of three wins, a draw and two losses from his opening six games in charge.
Needless to say, it would be a huge result for Mowbray to get one over his former team, and a huge statement to the Sunderland owners and to Beale who could see all that early pressure pile right back on with defeat tomorrow.
Michael Beale could be walking tightrope
There’s been a big shift in Sunderland fans’ mentality towards Beale over the last few weeks.
That defeat at home to Hull City last month sparked an online vitriol against the Black Cats boss, who didn’t help himself some comments he made in the press.
But a run of three games without defeat, with wins against Stoke City and Plymouth Argyle eased a lot of that pressure.
Sunderland have played some good stuff over the past few weeks and Beale looks like he’s getting a tune out of the players.
But the result and performance against Huddersfield was poor, and another similar outing tomorrow would surely give fans reason to berate Beale once more.
It’s really not going to be an easy game for either side. But Beale has to make sure his Sunderland side take the game to Birmingham City and play like the top six hopefuls they are.
Birmingham City may try and make the game dogged and cagey but Sunderland need to show their quality, and if they can get a good win tomorrow then it’ll do Beale’s cause a world of good.