Sunderland v Portsmouth: League One betting preview, predictions & tips

Sky Sports Football, 12.30pm Saturday

There was precious little to choose between Sunderland and Portsmouth last season and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that that may still be the case after 90 minutes at the Stadium of Light.

These two fallen giants met five times across three competitions in 2018-19 - three ended in draws and the one Pompey success was all-square until the Mackems were reduced to ten.

If there’s an outright bet to be had it’s probably the draw and for a correct scoreline 1-1 has plenty of history. Sunderland have racked up nine 1-1 scores at home in the past 11 months.

Sunderland are already two-out-of-two for stalemates this season, producing a fairly ordinary performance in their home draw with Oxford and a dismal first 45 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Ipswich.

They lack the firepower to overwhelm sides and the creativity to unlock stubborn ones.

Question marks over Jack Ross’s aptitude won’t be going away any time soon and he needs his one superstar, Aiden McGeady, to be fit and firing as soon as possible.

The Scot is already fiddling with formations – something he never quite got right last term – and, frustrated by a lack of deadline-day activity he will make more tweaks today, probably erring for a 4-2-3-1 unless he fancies playing Charlie Wyke up alongside Marc McNulty.

That said, Sunderland are contenders as Portsmouth will be too.

Kenny Jackett’s men got off to a poor start to the season losing 1-0 at Shrewsbury. But that’s the only goal they’ve conceded, was a world-class strike, and it was also a game that Portsmouth completely bossed.

They’ve since shut out Birmingham and Tranmere, and Jackett also struck gold when recruiting Doncaster marksman John Marquis (from under the nose of Sunderland among others) to add focus to the attack.

They were the top away scorers in Sky Bet League One last season and notched more away wins than any other side.

The Stadium of Light might be daunting to some, but road warriors Portsmouth will take it in their stride.

Recommendation
Draw
1pt 21-10 Betfair, Betfred, Betway
Back this bet with bet365
Bet on this match at Soccerbase.com

Team news
Sunderland
Left-back Denver Hume is a doubt. Aiden McGeady is not fully fit but is hard to ignore.

Portsmouth
Bryn Morris, Ryan Williams and Oli Hawkins are short-term crocks. Jack Whatmough is a longer-term absentee.

Key stat
Sunderland scored in every League One home game last season.

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