Game of the day from League One goes ahead at the Stadium of Light on Saturday as Sunderland and Portsmouth face off live on Sky Sports. Here are our top Sunderland v Portsmouth betting tips.
A Closer Look
Both teams are expected to be challenging for the league title come the end of the season and this gives them an opportunity to lay down a marker for the campaign ahead.
Sunderland enjoys home advantage but has failed to get off the mark in their first two games, drawing each. That leaves them down in 15th place, two points better than the relegation zone and four behind top of the league. Not the start they would’ve hoped for but there’s a long road ahead and plenty of football still to be played. They won’t be reaching for the panic button just yet.
Sunderland as Favourites
Portsmouth has three points on the board, following an opening week defeat with a win last time out. Pompey lost 1-0 away to Shrewsbury Town on 3 August but dusted themselves down and rallied to beat Tranmere Rovers a week ago, battling to a 2-0 home win. Close broke the deadlock on 27 minutes and that was added to by Naylor on 75. A deserved win and one that put them right back on track in the early exchanges.
Who will come out on top in this live TV game? Bookmakers have priced Sunderland as favourites but there’s not a lot in it at the time of writing. The home cheer is 13/10 with Bet365 against the 11/5 of Portsmouth and 9/4 the draw. We can’t split them and will take a third even finish on the bounce for Sunderland at a decent price. The form suggests we won’t be far off a profit.
