Rotherham’s first game of pre-season was an emphatic 7-0 drubbing of Parkgate in an away game. Then came the training camp in Poland, now returned for their last couple of games before the Championship campaign begins. Sunderland on the other hand need to pick up where they left off last season, narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier League and Sam Allardyce managing to steer clear of the drop and give Sunderland another prestigious season in the top division of English football.
Former head coach Allardyce has been headhunted by the English Football Association to become the national team’s new permanent head coach after Roy Hodgson resigned from the position after a disappointing Euro 2016 tournament with England.
However, Sunderland still have very good players at their disposal, Jermain Defoe’s goals were crucial last season, so he and fellow striker Fabio Borini will look to hit the ground running in this fixture, with a battle between Italian Vito Mannone and young Englishman Jordan Pickford for the no.1 jersey.
There is great competition at both ends for Sunderland and our prediction is that Sunderland will win this game 2-0 at 17/2 and our betting tip is for Sunderland to be winning at HT & FT in this fixture at 15/8, both with bet365.
Sunderland continue their pre-season campaign with a trip to Rotherham United on Saturday.
The Lads played their first match of the new season on Wednesday evening against Hartlepool United, with Jermain Defoe inspiring the Black Cats to a comfortable 3-0 win.
The England international scored twice in the opening 45 minutes with Wahbi Khazri also finding the net, before 11 changes at the break saw a youthful Sunderland side impress from back to front.
Rotherham, meanwhile, have enjoyed an impressive start to pre-season defeating Parkgate 7-0 before beating Miedz Legnica and drawing against Gornik Zabrze during their tour of Poland.
Saturday’s trip will be the Black Cats’ first to the New York Stadium following Rotherham’s move to their new arena in 2012 following a brief spell at the Don Valley Stadium.
The Millers boast two Sunderland connections within their ranks with manager Alan Stubbs and new signing Greg Halford both turning out for the Black Cats.
Stubbs, who made ten league appearances on Wearside, moved to the New York Stadium in May having guided Hibernian to their first Scottish Cup win in 114 years.
Halford, 34, made just eight league appearances for Sunderland following a £2.5m move from Reading in 2007, but he failed to settle and moved to Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United on loan before departing permanently in 2009.
John O’Shea and Seb Larsson will once again be unavailable due to their Euro 2016 exploits, but the duo will be in action in France with the Black Cats flying overseas on Sunday.
Saturday’s game will be Sunderland’s final domestic pre-season outing of the season.
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