Sunderland v Southampton odds : Saints remains favorite despite internal club crisis
Breaking Sunderland v Southampton odds, team news and match preview (KO 12:45).
Southampton are seen as slight 8/5 favourites to beat Sunderland despite all of the focus surrounding the club off the pitch.
It has been a week of turmoil behind the scenes at Southampton but The Saints will need to get their affairs in order as travel to the Stadium of Light to take on a slowly improving Sunderland side.
The hosts have steadily eroded the gap down to their relegation rivals and The Black Cats now find themselves in 19th spot just two points away from safety.
| Sunderland |  |
2/1 |
| Draw |  |
23/10 |
| Southampton |  |
13/8 |
Gus Poyet’s side have started off 2014 in good shape winning their last three games in all competition but the side have already seen departures in the transfer window with Korean winger Ji Dong-Won having move to German side Augsburg earlier this week.
Alongside Won’s departure, right back Carlos Cuellar has failed to get back into the squad as he attempts to overcome a persistent hip injury whist Kieren Westwood remains out after undergoing a shoulder operation earlier this week.
Sunderland fans can be quietly confident about the upcoming game having remained unbeaten in their last 6 league encounters against Southampton including winning 3 of these fixtures.
For Southampton, life in the Premier League has been good so far this season with the team currenty sitting in 9th place with a seven point cushion back to their nearest rivals.
However, the departure of Nicola Cortese from the club has thrown huge amounts of speculation as to which players might be leaving in the near future with Gaston Ramirez, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw directly in the transfer spotlight.
For the game itself, Victor Wanyama will miss out after failing to recover in time however Artur Boruc and Guly Do Prado have been passed fit and are expected to return to the first team line-up ahead of the lunchtime kick-off.
Much of Southampton’s success has been down to their English contingent at the club who have scored 7 out of the last 8 goals scored in the Premier League for The Saints.
There is no doubt that most of the talk going into the fixture will be about the off court affairs at Southampton but both sides will be eager to let their action on the pitch do the taking once the first whistle blows at the Stadium of Light.
