Football – England – Premier League
Saturday 7th February 2015 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Swansea City registered what seemed a very unlikely win away at St Marys Stadium last Sunday afternoon, and whilst the Swans defended very well as a unit, it must be said that Southampton were as equally poor in the final third and failed to really carve out any decent opportunities.
Last week I went against Swansea as their away record was a pretty average one, but as I’ve mentioned before during this season, their form at the Liberty Stadium has been solid despite suffering two recent defeats on home turf to Tottenham and Chelsea.
However, Tottenham currently sit in 6th place and Chelsea are top of the league so these defeats were entirely unexpected, but Swansea have dealt very effectively with the bottom half teams in the Premier League this season as they’ve chalked up wins over Burnley, West Brom, Leicester City, QPR and Aston Villa.
Sunderland ended a run of five league matches without a win last weekend when they registered a 2-0 home win over Burnley which lifted them away from the bottom three for the time being. However, the Black Cats have lost their last two on the trot away from home at Manchester City and Tottenham, and just one win from their last six on the road.
Sunderland’s away record stands at 2-5-4 9/17 and scoring goals on their travels has been their main problem in not securing more points away from the Stadium of Light – they’ve failed to score in six away matches so far this season.
To sum up, Swansea defended very well at Southampton last week and to take all three points given their injuries, suspensions and the loss of Bony was a credit to Garry Monk’s team spirit. I’m expecting more of the same here today against Sunderland although I’ll give the quarter ball on the hosts to be safe. Could be a 1-0 win for The Swans.
Pick: Swansea City AH-0.25 @ 1.63 Bet Victor
