Sunderland vs Millwall Prediction: Black Cats to struggle again?

Sunderland’s season needs an injection of new life, and they will hope to get it as they host Millwall at the Stadium of Light on Saturday (15:00).

The Black Cats now look destined to finish fourth, but they need to find some momentum over these final eight matches. Below you can find my Sunderland vs Millwall predictions. 

Team News

Dennis Crikin and Enzo Le Fee remain the two big absentees for Sunderland, with the left-back set to be out for three weeks having picked up an issue at Coventry. Midfielder Salis Abdul Samed is also out of action for the same time period, but Le Fee and Leo Hjelde are expected to return to training next week.

Trai Hume is back available for selection despite missing Northern Ireland’s trip to Sweden with an injury, but Jenson Seelt has suffered a setback as he also picked up a problem at the CBS Arena. 

"He doesn't feel good with his knee, with different small problems, so I think we will have to wait maybe one or two weeks to be very clear and fresh," Regis Le Bris said of the defender. 

Football Odds

Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg should both start after their exploits with England’s youth teams while Wilson Isidor will want to force his way back into the XI after Eliezer Mayenda was chosen to lead the line last time out. 

Key Millwall player Femi Azeez is still struggling with a hamstring issue so is likely to miss out while George Honeyman is a doubt with a groin issue. Camiel Neghli is definitely still out but Macaulay Langstaff is back in training and has an outside shot of making the bench in the north-east. 

Millwall edged past Stoke last time out with a late penalty, so expect the majority of that team to start again, with Mihailo Ivanovic and Josh Coburn to start as the front two. Japhet Tanganga and Jake Cooper will provide a solid base at the back, while we can rely on Casper de Norre to put a real shift in at the heart of midfield. 

Sunderland vs Millwall Odds

Sunderland are priced at 8/13 to win this home game, giving them an implied win probability of 62%. A draw can be backed at 11/4 while a Millwall win is out at 5/1, a big price for the side with the seventh best away record in the Championship this term. 

In terms of goals, over 2.5 can be backed at 5/4 having come in during 50% of Sunderland fixtures this term and BTTS is the same price. Isidor is the favourite to open the scoring at 9/2, having scored 12 already this season. 

Under 2.5 goals @ 8/13

Only Burnley have seen fewer games finish with three goals or more than Millwall have this term, and with Tanganga and Cooper set to lead the defence once again, I can see them frustrating this Sunderland outfit. Six of Millwall’s last seven games have ended under 2.5 goals, while the same can be said of three of Sunderland’s last four home games. 

A short price but a confident selection. 

Draw @ 11/4

Now the Black Cats have won 11 of 19 home matches so far this season so I can fully understand why they are odds-on favourites to win this match, especially given the individual quality they have at their disposal. Had this game been played in October, I would have been fully behind a convincing home win. 

But things have changed at Sunderland, and not for the better. Their hunt for an automatic place has fallen flat, and they are now seemingly destined to finish fourth in the table, no matter what happens in the final eight games. They sit 10 points ahead of Coventry, and 11 points behind Burnley, so they are now in a strange Championship purgatory heading towards the end of the campaign. 

Their performances have dropped off and the showing at Coventry was poor, while Millwall have improved under Alex Neil and taken 20 points from their last 11 games. They’ve got a solid defence and should be up for the fight. I can see them nicking a point in this one. 

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