Sunderland entertain Leicester City at the Stadium of Light in a huge Sky Bet Championship clash.
Victory would see Sunderland stay 10th in the table, whilst a win or a draw would see Leicester stay top but a defeat would be enough unless Ipswich thrash Bristol City by at least 14 goals at minimum.
Team News
Corry Evans could return for Sunderland after 13 months out with an ACL injury, although he won’t be risked unless match fit.
Jack Clarke (ankle), Niall Huggins (knee), Aji Alese (leg), Patrick Roberts (calf), Dennis Cirkin, Bradley Dack (hamstring) remain ruled out.
Leicester could be without Dennis Praet after he suffered a hamstring injury in their loss to QPR.
Kasey McAteer (knock) is a doubt but Ricardo Pereira (hamstring), Wilfried Ndidi (leg) and Jannik Vestergaard (suspension) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Sunderland host Leicester at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday 5 March at 7:45pm GMT, live on Sky Sports Red Button in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Sunderland have won just one of their last five league meetings against Leicester (W1, L4).
- Leicester have won one of their last eight visits to Sunderland (W1, D3, L4).
- Sunderland have kept just one clean sheet in their last six home games against Leicester.
- Each of Sunderland’s last six league goals at home have been scored in the second half.
- Leicester are looking to avoid suffering four consecutive league defeats for the first time since April 2023.
Prediction
Currently winless in four matches and now nine points adrift of the last play-off spot, Sunderland really need to start finding a better balance between their attack and defence although a poor end product cost thm narrowly at Norwich last weekend without Clarke.
Leicester meanwhile are lucky to have had built a solid buffer in recent months but with three straight league defeats, they really need a result to arrest their slump because defeat here plus wins for Ipswich and Leeds will put the Foxes right back into a promotion scrap.
Wearside therefore is the last place that Leicester would like to visit given their poor away form to Sunderland, but this is a chance to get back to winning ways and I can see them seizing the advantage given the Black Cats’ current issues.
Prediction: Sunderland 0-1 Leicester
Result: Sunderland 0-1 Leicester