Sunderland vs Stoke City Prediction: The home side has advantage going into the game

On Saturday, Alex Neil will lead his Stoke City team against his former club, Sunderland, in a Championship match at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland has experienced a challenging stretch of matches, resulting in their fall to the ninth position in the table. Meanwhile, Stoke City is in 17th place, trailing their newly-promoted opponents by nine points.

Sunderland, who gained promotion back to the Championship last season under Alex Neil before he departed for Stoke City in August, are now in contention for the playoffs in England's second tier under Tony Mowbray. The team had a strong position in the top six thanks to a positive run of form between mid-January and mid-February, earning 10 points from four league matches including wins over Middlesbrough, Reading, and Queens Park Rangers, as well as a draw against Millwall. However, a last-minute penalty saw them draw against Bristol City before suffering defeats against Rotherham United and Coventry City in their next two matches. As a result, Sunderland has dropped to ninth place and will need to regain their form quickly to avoid falling further behind in the playoff race.

Gelhardt, Clarke, Diallo, Roberts, Neil, Michut, Alese, Batth, Ballard, Hume and Patterson

Stoke City, currently in 17th position in the second tier of English football, are determined to put an end to their streak of inconsistency and improve their standing. Neil, who took over the team in late August, has struggled to establish consistency, with four wins and six losses in their 13 league games since the World Cup break. This pattern continued into February, as Stoke won two games and lost two in their last four second-tier matches. They had impressive victories against Huddersfield Town and Swansea City but then suffered 1-0 defeats to Blackpool and Millwall. Stoke's most recent game was in the FA Cup round of 16 against top-flight team Brighton & Hove Albion, but despite their efforts, they were unable to progress, losing 1-0 to Evan Ferguson's goal. With their sights now set firmly on the league, Stoke is six points outside the top six and will be eager to string together a series of positive results starting this weekend, hoping to propel themselves up the league table in the remaining months of the season.

Celina, Gayle, Brown, Pearson, Laurent, Baker, Hoever, Tuanzebe, Wilmot, Sterling and Sarkic

Despite Sunderland having a better season so far, they are currently not performing at their best. We expect the home side to be back in form in this game. Therefore, we anticipate a home side win at the Stadium of Light. We expect the game to have less than 2.5 goals.