da blaze casino： Gus Poyet’s Sunderland host a confident Southampton side round four of the Capital One Cup hoping to get their season back on track.
da bet vitoria： After a disastrous start to the season, the Black Cat’s fortunes looked to have been improving after their late win over arch rivals Newcastle two weeks ago. But they followed that up with a disappointing loss to Hull, which puts them back where they started.
New Stadium of Light boss Poyet will be counting on his players to start putting things right quickly in order to save their season, but he will have his work cut out against a well-organised and in-form Saints side.
Mauricio Pochettino has got the Saints playing some inspiring football so far this season and has been rewarded with seeing his side sitting pretty in sixth having conceded just four goals all season, which currently stands at a league best.
Southampton earned a last minute draw against Sunderland at St. Mary’s earlier this season in a result that appeared to have set the path for both side’s campaigns since. Sunderland’s agony of conceding late and missing the chance to record their first win of the season has seen them spiral out of control, while Southampton’s delight at nicking a point when defeat looked certain has since seen them keep company with the top-flight’s big boys in the top-six.
But Southampton don’t have a particularly good record at Sunderland having not won in any of their last five trips to the Stadium of Light, which is a run tempted to be halted very soon. However, Sunderland have good cup record at home. They have conceded in just five of their last eight home Capital One Cup matches and are looking to make it three consecutive home victories in this competition.
That said, both of these teams have a poor record against top-flight opposition in the Capital One Cup. Sunderland have lost their last five meetings with Premier League opposition in this cup, while the Saints have lost seven of their last eight against top-flight sides in the Capital One Cup.
Poyet will have to do without Lee Cattermole and Andrea Dossena who are both suspended after their red cards during Saturday’s loss at Hull, while Vito Mannone is expected to start in place of the injurted Keiren Westwood.
Pochettino may not want to disrupt his side’s good league form by picking up unwanted injuries to key players, so he is expected to make several changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Stoke City last weekend, with both Jack Cork and Gaston Ramirez among the players hoping to feature.
The winners of this match will earn themselves a quarter-final home tie with Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in December.
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