Sunderland vs Leeds Prediction: Goals galore in Championship blockbuster

Friday night’s Championship fixture promises to be an absolute belter. Early pace-setters Sunderland host Leeds United (20:00, Sky Sports Main Event), as two emerging promotion contenders go toe-to-toe at the Stadium of Light. 

Both of them were in action in midweek, with Sunderland taking top spot with a 2-0 win over Derby County, while Daniel Farke had to settle for a point on his return to Carrow Road. Below you can find my Sunderland vs Leeds prediction, as two giants collide. 

Team News

Regis Le Bris is on a roll right now, so despite the effort on Tuesday night, I would expect him to name an unchanged team. Ian Poveda was injured after coming off the bench in that one so will miss out here, while Alan Browne could be a more experienced option in midfield. However, the boss is unlikely to tamper with that seemingly perfect central trio of Chris Rigg, Jobe Bellingham and Dan Neil. 

Leeds have some issues in midfield after Ethan Amapadu was ruled out for the rest of the year. That was compounded at Carrow Road as Ilia Gruev also suffered a knee injury, which means Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell are likely to start in the north-east. Rothwell is yet to start a Championship game for Leeds, while Mateo Joseph could drop out of the side in favour of Joel Piroe. 

Sunderland vs Leeds odds

Sunderland are priced at 21/10 to win this game, with Leeds available at 13/10. A draw can be backed at 12/5, over 2.5 goals is 10/11 and BTTS is 8/11. Mateo Joseph is 5/1 to open the scoring for the away side. 

Sunderland to win and BTTS @ 9/2

This should be a belting game with plenty of goals. I’m a big fan of the attacking talent on both sides (more on that shortly), so I don’t think there will be any issues with both Leeds and Sunderland finding the net on Friday night. 

However, I’m going to lean in favour of the home side to take all three points for several reasons. They’ve won all four of their home league games so far this term, and they haven’t conceded a single goal during that time. Although I think Leeds will find the net given their wealth of quality, I believe the Black Cats will be able to overwhelm them. 

It should be an amazing atmosphere under the lights, while the absence of Leeds’ two starting central midfielders is likely to have an impact given Sunderland have teenage superstars Rigg and Bellingham in that area. The Black Cats can continue their sparkling form against the favourites to win the league. 

Over 4.5 goals @ 11/2

Incredibly, Sunderland’s top scorer this season Romaine Mundle has only scored three, and the same can be said for Leeds with Joel Piroe. Both outfits are sharing the goals around this term rather than focusing on an individual as they did last campaign as Crysencio Summerville and Jack Clarke stole the headlines. 

It means I won’t be picking out goalscorers here but instead have just backed there to be loads of goals. Mundle, Bellingham, Rigg and now Wilson Isidor are all massive goal threats for the hosts, with Isidor scoring two in two since coming into the XI. Meanwhile Willy Gnonto, Largie Ramazani, Brenden Aaronson and Joseph are making up a wonderful quartet, with Piroe also providing goals from the bench.

I think we will see a belting Championship encounter on Friday night, and think there is value in backing there to be over 4.5 goals. 

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