Scunthorpe vs Sunderland Predictions

Just a few weeks ago, even at this relatively early stage, Scunthorpe looked on their way out of League One, though Stuart McCall has galvanised his troops, who’ve delivered some improved performances. The Iron have now won four on the bounce and thus find themselves six points outside of the drop-zone.

Scunthorpe’s turnaround has been quite remarkable. Stuart McCall, who acted right at the start of the transfer window, bringing in experienced players Adam Hamill, Byron Webster, Kevin van Veen and Tony McMahon, has finally got his side to show some back-bone defensively, while they’re now grinding out results, which is something that they struggled with for most of the first half of the campaign.

Recent performances haven’t been great from an attacking point of view, but there’s been lots of heart, determination and keeping things tight. Last weekend, Scunny delivered what was their best performance in terms of preventing the opposition from creating, as they gave away just 0.39 expected goals. McCall will be hoping that his men can replicate such efforts against promotion chasers Sunderland.

While Scunthorpe have won each of their last four, Sunderland’s promotion push has stagnated slightly of late. The Black Cats have failed to win any of their last two matches, while they’ve won just one of their last four. Last weekend, Jack Ross’ men were fortunate not to lose against Luton, as they emerged with a negative expected goal difference of -1.08. Fortunately for the visitors, Scunthorpe aren’t quite on Luton’s level. What’s more, prior to their effort against the Hatters last weekend, Sunderland have delivered some promising away performances.

Fortunately for the visitors, Scunthorpe, despite getting some good result of late, have looked poor in terms of creativity. Considering that they created just 0.48 expected goals for last weekend, they were lucky to score two goals. Their last four expected goals for figures read 0.48, 1.31, 0.4 and 0.52. Unless they improve on Saturday, then they’re likely to be caught out.

At the prices, the bet that stands out ahead of this match is ‘Sunderland to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’. Scunthorpe have become less easy to bowl over in recent weeks, but their underlying attacking numbers are worrying. Sunderland don’t give much away, while their recent attacking efforts on the road have been far better than anything that the hosts have produced. Thanks to superior quality in the final third, Jack Ross’ men can edge ahead and resume winning ways.