Cardiff v Sunderland Betting Preview – Championship 13th January 12.30pm
Cardiff’s title challenge has really come off the rails as they failed to hold themselves together over the busy Festive period, losing four straight games on the bounce. They have managed to hold onto their third place in the Championship though despite that, but they need to snap their losing streak. Sunderland are still scraping along at the bottom of the table but could get out of the relegation zone with a win.
Cardiff v Sunderland Betting Tips
Cardiff are in some poor form at the moment as they are on a four-match losing streak in the league. Their first half of the season was so strong and now they are in a little bit of danger of throwing it away, and more questions about their lack of depth to see out a promotion push this season have come to the surface. Their home form this season in the Championship is pretty good though as they have gone and posted a W8 D3 L2 record, however, both defeats have happened in their last two home games, snapping their great unbeaten streak. The defeats came against Fulham and Preston. Cardiff have returned 22 goals on home soil this season in the Championship and defensively they have been really solid. Cardiff have conceded an average of just 0.77 goals per game against. Only 46% of their home games have gone over 2.5 goals and it is probably worth looking under the goal line at William Hill for this one.
Joe Ralls and Junior Hoilett are the joint top scorers for the club this season, but five of Hoilett’s goals have been at home he is a 7/4 option in the William Hill anytime goalscorer market while teammate Kenneth Zohore is favourite at 7/5* (Betting Odds taken January 9th, 2018 at 6.54pm). When Cardiff went to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland earlier this season they came away with a good 2-1 win and that snapped a three-match winless streak that they were on against the Black Cats. However, from the five previous Championship meetings, it is Sunderland who are 3-2 up, plus the Black Cats collected four points from their two Premier League meetings against the Bluebirds in the 2013/14 season as well. Cardiff have failed to win any of their last three league home games against Sunderland. In the William Hill Correct Score market a Cardiff 1-0 is the shortest-priced option at 5/1* (Betting Odds taken January 9th, 2018 at 6.54pm).
Even though the Black Cats are still stuck at the bottom of the Championship table, there have been more positives from them recently. Sunderland have gone W2 D2 L2 in their last six so they have been collecting points in improved form. Two of the last three wins that they have posted in the division have been on the road and both of those came with a clean sheet too. Sunderland are just W3 D5 L5 out on the road this season but they are W2 D1 L1 in their last four away from home. They are still lacking a serious goal output though because they have managed to score the three goals in their last six league games. In total they have sixteen goals in their thirteen away games this season, failing to score in almost a third of their road games. 64% of the goals that they have conceded away from the Stadium of Light have come in the second half of matches. Lewis Grabban is their top scorer and both teams NOT to score at William Hill appeals at 8/11* (Betting Odds taken January 9th, 2018 at 6.57pm).
Cardiff v Sunderland Betting Odds*
Cardiff 4/5, Draw 12/5, Sunderland 19/5* (Betting Odds taken January 8th, 2018 at 10.36pm)
Cardiff v Sunderland Predictions
The Bluebirds should be backed to take out the bottom side. Cardiff have been strong at home all season and if you look beyond their recent home struggles through the congested fixtures, then they should still be good enough to collect three points against the struggling Black Cats.
