Pundit casts intriguing Sunderland vs Aston Villa score prediction as Unai Emery chases first season win
Aston Villa are preparing to face newly-promoted Sunderland at the Stadium of Light
Aston Villa are looking to bounce back from their worst start to a league campaign in 27 years. Unai Emery’s side are without a win or even a goal after four matches in the league, and already find themselves out of contention to win one major domestic trophy after a third round League Cup exit against Brentford.
For the first time in the Spaniard's tenure in charge, questions are being asked of Emery’s tactical setup and whether Villa can continue to match the standards they’ve set over the last few seasons.
However, Villa now have an ideal opportunity to get their season back on track this weekend against Sunderland and are the hot favourites to get the job done at the Stadium of Light despite the newly-promoted side’s bright start.
Chris Sutton sends his apologies to fans as he makes Aston Villa vs Sunderland prediction
Former Aston Villa striker Chris Sutton believes Aston Villa will finally get off the mark with an all-important victory against Sunderland in the North East. Sutton explained, via BBC Sport: “I haven't backed Sunderland to win yet this season, and a few of their fans have been hammering me on social media because they have made a really good start.
“But I am not just going to back them to win for the sake of it, even against an Aston Villa side who are short of form and confidence, and cannot even score a goal at the moment either. Instead I am going to say Villa will come good, and for Ollie Watkins to not just get their first goal of the season, but to secure their first win too. Apologies again to Sunderland fans for that - they can hammer me again this week if I'm wrong.”
Sutton backed Villa to claim a 2-0 victory on Wearside against the Black Cats but he was very much in the minority with that verdict. The Coral’s frontman James Skelly predicted that the game would finish 1-1 while Katherine Parlour of indie duo Picture Parlour backed the Mackems to secure a shock 1-0 win in front of their home supporters. This view was shared by AI’s Copilot which also predicted a 1-0 home win.
What is Aston Villa’s record against Sunderland like?
Aston Villa have lost none of their 15 Premier League games under Unai Emery against newly promoted sides, winning 12 and drawing three.
Crucially they have also won six of their last 15 matches against Sunderland while drawing four times and only suffering defeat on one occasion. The Villans did the double over Sunderland when the two teams last played in the same league back in 2017/18 at Championship level. They notably won 3-0 against the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light that campaign with Lewis Grabban, James Chester and a Brian Oviedo own goal deciding that contest.
Sunderland, however, have made a bright start to the campaign and have invested heavily on new reinforcements. They’ve won two, drawn one and lost one of their top-flight matches so far.