Old Trafford held no fear for Martin O’Neill’s men on Saturday as they consigned the champions to their first home defeat of the season. Tonight they travel north to the Stadium of Light looking for another successful away trip, one that will see them climb to third and just five points behind the leaders Chelsea.
Villa’s win against United has been overshadowed by Rooney’s controversial dive but that should please O’Neill. The former Celtic and Leicester boss will be full of admiration for the way his troops played at the Theatre of Dreams and will be keen to keep their feet firmly on the ground after recording their first win at Old Trafford for 26 years. After all, that win will mean nothing if they slip up and get beat by Sunderland tonight.
The Black Cats’ form has nosedived terribly in recent weeks but their record at the Stadium of Light remains the best outside of the top four. Only Chelsea have left Wearside with all three points this season in the league, but Villa did knock Bruce’s boys out of the League Cup on penalties in front of their own fans back in October. Villa have also won three of their last four league and cup visits to the SOL so they will enter the game full of confidence.
Sunderland go into the game searching for their first win since beating Arsenal four matches ago – their only win since beating Liverpool in the middle of October, but they will be pleased to back at home. They have managed to pick up just five points from their past six league outings – all at home – and if it wasn’t for Bolton they would be propping up the current form guide alongside Everton.
Sunderland have only beaten Villa once in their past eight meetings but they will be boosted by the return of Kieran Richardson and Phil Bardsley and Kenwyne Jones may be fit following a shoulder problem.
Villa’s only injury concern is defender Stephen Warnock who suffered whiplash in a collision against United.
So will Sunderland turn on their impressive home form to thwart Villa’s Champions League hopes or will the Villains reproduce their heroics at Old Trafford? The majority of the Panel believes Villa will get a share of the spoils at least.
Sunderland v Aston Villa; Kick Off 7:45pm 15 Dec 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 1 - 0
Chris Cox : 0 - 2
Graham Enwright : 1 - 2
Sue Gardener : TBC
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 2
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 2
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 2 - 2
Peter Lee : 1 - 1
Don McMahon : 0 - 2
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : 1 - 2
Dave Nash : 1 - 2
Stephen Orford (sqf) : 2 - 2
Tony Ratton : 2 - 2
Peter Rendle : 2 - 2
Dan Taylor : 2 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 1 - 3
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : 1 - 2
Panel Verdict
It looks as though Villa will head back to the Midlands with a share of the points.
Home: 1; Draw: 8; Away: 8; TBC: 3.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
