Gillingham vs Sunderland Predictions

• Gillingham have lost their last three games, all by 2-0.
• Sunderland have won 12 of their 15 competitive games this season.
• Gillingham have avoided defeat only once in their last four home games – against struggling Charlton.

Gills going in the wrong direction

A Gillingham side sliding towards the relegation places takes on a buoyant Black Cats team that has picked up the winning habit this weekend – and we can only foresee one outcome.

No team in League One has worse form over the past eight games than the Gills, who have picked up just six points during a run of one win, three draws and four defeats.

Promotion-chasing Sunderland shouldn’t take them lightly or else they won’t have learned their lesson from a 4-0 humbling at the hands of a Portsmouth team with equally bad form last time out. Lee Johnson’s line-up didn’t seem prepared to roll their sleeves up when it was clear they were in a battle on a rain-soaked pitch and the Black Cats boss even tried to get the game abandoned when 2-0 down at the break.

Sunderland will be expecting a similar welcome in Kent from a squad managed by Steve Evans, who couldn’t fault his players commitment but felt they lacked quality in a 2-0 loss to Wycombe last weekend.

Sunderland not totally secure at the back

Gillingham’s defending has been exposed by some of the division’s better footballing sides and we expect Sunderland to pick up three points here – even if their away results this season have been a mixed bag. The Gills can trouble the Black Cats though and we rate their chances of scoring a goal because Johnson’s men have conceded eight in four away trips with no clean sheets on the road as yet.

Aside from the Sunderland to win and both teams to score bet, we’re recommending a 2-1 correct score prediction because the Gills are averaging exactly 1.0 goals at home and conceding 1.75 per game so far.