Newcastle vs Sunderland Prediction & Betting Tips - Premier League

Prediction published on 16/03/2016, 16:00  by | Modified on 25/03/2016 at 19:13 in Premier League Predictions

Rafael Benitez has his first home game as boss of Newcastle and it just would have to be against arch-rivals Sunderland. Newcastle only trail Sunderland, who are a place above the relegation zone, by a point so a win here will really boost their hopes of survival. United did play a bit better against Leicester on Monday but still lost 1-0, their fourth straight league defeat and the sixth in the last seven. Home form had been keeping Newcastle alive with 11 points from six games before the 3-1 home loss to Bournemouth that cost Steve McLaren his job. Home wins really are important for Newcastle because their away form is just terrible with seven straight defeats. Sunderland aren't much use away from home either with two points from the last four league games but they so nearly got a win at Southampton but conceded a late goal. Sunderland have only lost one of their last five league matches but only earned six points. They have a great record against Newcastle though and beat them 3-0 at home earlier in the season. This is a difficult game to predict, will the Benitez factor boost Newcastle or have Sunderland got a hoodoo over Newcastle at present? Neither side has a defence you can trust with Sunderland going 16 games without a clean sheet so I go for both teams to score here.