Sunderland v West Ham United
West Ham will be hoping to leapfrog Sunderland in the Premiership table with three points at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. The Hammers have been involved in some exciting tussles away from home recently sharing eight goals with Charlton and winning by the odd goal in five at Ipswich.
And certainly the east Londoners are rarely involved in a dull game these days, which is why the 0-0 draw is priced at 8/1 with online bookmakers surreySPORTS.
Peter Reid's team will be out for revenge, after their FA Cup run last season was halted at the Fifth Round stage by a single strike from West Ham's Frederic Kanoute. And the Hammers' leading scorer is expected to return to action after missing the last two games with a hamstrung injury.
But the Frenchman will find it hard to beat Black Cats goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen who features in the top 10 goalkeepers in the Opta Index for the season after conceding an average of just 0.8 goals per game at the Stadium of Light this term.
But the last line of defence has not been completely faultless, Sorensen has dropped the ball four times in the Premiership and he may not be as sharp as David James who made his debut for Glenn Roeder's team last weekend after missing the first few months of the campaign through injury.
The former Aston Villa shot-stopper will be hoping to use the rest of the season as a platform to be selected for an England recall and not be embroiled in a relegation battle. But James needs to stem the goals against tide, which has seen the Hammers concede 26 goals this season - more than any other team in the top-flight.
And with Sunderland netting in every home game so far, you would expect the likes of Kevin Phillips to be among the goals on Saturday afternoon. But thanks to a few blanks on their travels, the Black Cat's goals-to-shots ratio of 7% is one of the poorest ratios in the Premiership - marginally better than Leicester's.
However as the Hammers have not won a league game in Sunderland for over 16 and a half years, there could be more misery on the cards for former local hero Don Hutchison, as the Scottish international makes his first return to the Stadium of Light since his controversial move to the capital in August.
Ben Romaner
Match referee: P. Jones
Midlands official Peter Jones is one of the fairest referees in the top-flight issuing an average of 3.2 cards per game. But these two teams, who have amassed 52 cautions between them, could bump up that average.
Referee's Name FoulsPenaltiesYellow CardsRed CardsAve
Disc pointsP. Jones 164 0 14 1 42.40
PLAYER HEAD-TO-HEAD
click below for in-depth comparisonMcAteer v Hutchison
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MATCH BETTING
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Match Result Sunderland8/11Draw9/4West Ham10/3Correct Score Sunderland 1-06/1Sunderland 2-013/2Sunderland 2-17/1Sunderland 3-011/1Sunderland 3-111/1Sunderland 3-225/1Sunderland 4-033/1Sunderland 4-128/1Sunderland 4-250/1Sunderland 5-080/1Sunderland 5-166/1Sunderland 6-0100/1Sunderland 6-1100/1Draw 0-08/1Draw 1-111/2Draw 2-214/1Draw 3-350/1West Ham 1-09/1West Ham 2-020/1West Ham 2-114/1West Ham 3-050/1West Ham 3-140/1West Ham 3-240/1West Ham 4-0100/1West Ham 4-1100/1West Ham 4-2100/1Double Result Sunderland/Sunderland7/4Sunderland/Draw16/1Sunderland/West Ham40/1Draw/Sunderland7/2Draw/Draw7/2Draw/West Ham8/1West Ham/Sunderland25/1West Ham/Draw16/1West Ham/West Ham15/2First Goalscorer K Phillips3/1N Quinn5/1L Laslandes6/1D Bellion8/1J Arca14/1J Mcateer16/1N Medina16/1G Mccann16/1S Schwarz16/1K Kilbane20/1P Thirlwell33/1G Mccartney33/1B Haas33/1M Gray33/1D Williams40/1S Varga40/1J Craddock40/1E Thome50/1T Butler50/1No Goalscorer8/1P Kitson7/1J Defoe8/1D Hutchison12/1T Sinclair16/1J Cole16/1Courtois25/1S Moncur25/1S Minto40/1S Schmemel40/1C Dailly50/1R Soma50/1H Foxe50/1N Winterburn50/1T Repka50/1S Potts66/1
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By Road:
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