Cardiff vs Sunderland Prediction & Betting Tips - Championship

Prediction published on 09/08/2024, 22:32  by Kennedy Kechula in Championship Predictions

Sunderland’s season in the Championship will commence with an away match at Cardiff City on Saturday. Both teams will be hoping for a journey that will end in returns to the Premier League. Follow on for the match preview and our prediction.

Hosts Cardiff City finished 11 points off the promotion playoff spot last season. They won less than half of their league matches and will be eyeing an improvement. That will call for a good start, unlike last season when they got just a point from the opening three games.

Coming from a strong run in preseason, home fans will hope Cardiff carry that form to the Championship. They lost just once in their eight off-season matches, winning five. Additionally, the arrivals of Calum Chambers, Wilfred Kanga and Anwar El Ghazi will strengthen the Bluebirds’ quest.

Sunderland might take motivation from their scoring form in preseason but they were poor defensively. They played to just two clean sheets in the seven matches, while scoring in all.

There’s definitely some improvement to be made by new manager Regis Le Bris, who joins from relegated Lorient. This fixture has in recent meetings favored the away team and Sunderland will seek motivation from that. They will need all the good luck they can get, after finishing last season on a low.

The Black Cats lost their closing three matches without scoring. It was such a poor season that they wrapped it up just six points above the drop zone. They won only 16 of their 46 league matches and there isn’t much optimism around after a rather quiet transfer period. Ian Poveda and Alan Browne have arrived on free transfers.