Southend have the threat of relegation hanging over them and they go into this home match on 47 points, level with Plymouth Argyle down in the drop zone. Can they hang on? Here are our top Southend v Sunderland betting tips.
An In-Depth Look at the Match
The locals lost last time out to increase the pressure, but Argyle have shown no signs of being able to apply any real pressure in recent weeks, although we are expecting a nail-biting climax from both sides. At present there’s just one point between Southend in 20th and Scunthorpe down in 23rd, meaning there will be a few nervy moments across the country on Saturday night.
The home team stumbled to a 1-0 defeat away to Rochdale last weekend, a result that ranked as a real body blow for all concerned. Henderson scored the only goal of the game on 53 minutes and that was enough to see the victors secure their place in the division for another season. In what was an even match throughout, Southend struggled to create too many clear-cut chances and never looked like winning the match, although they would’ve rated their chances at a draw. A share here is 13/5 at Bet365, the home win 2/1 with the same firm.
Black Cats Need Luck
Sunderland will likely miss out on automatic promotion this term, but they do have the safety net of a play-off place to catch them and that gives fans the chance to dream of a return to the Championship. The visitors have drawn three of their last five, winning one and losing the other and that inconsistency cost them a place in the top-two, failing to take advantage of the points dropped by Luton over the last few weeks. Having already secured their play-off spot, will they rest a few players here? That’s possible.
They battled to a 1-1 with Portsmouth at home last week in a match that was a great advert for football at this level, their second two-goal draw on the bounce. Sunderland took the lead through Tom Flanagan early in that match and fans expected them to kick-on from there but Portsmouth are a determined bunch and got themselves level on 24 minutes thanks to a strike from Jamal Lowe, silencing the bulk of a stunning 40,000+ crowd that had crammed into the arena. This will be Sunderland’s second match of the week and bookies have them at 6/5 (Bet365). Enough in that to catch your eye?