Murray In Mint Form

To have a reasonable punt at a scorecast bet you need to be able to put a range on the likely scoreline and have a standout candidate in the goalscorer market. In this fixture we should have both and therefore there’s some value.

Seven of Sunderland’s last eight fixtures have produced two goals or fewer so another low scoring encounter is highly probable at the Stadium of Light. Both teams have men on form at the business end of the park but you wonder if Jermain Defoe’s heroics are sustainable.

He scored a derby-day wonder goal last weekend but the Black Cats have struggled to replicate the odd decent performance all season. In contrast, Palace have taken 22 points from 11 matches under Alan Pardew and appear to have moved up a level from the sides down the bottom.

The Eagles have recently been able to rely heavily on Glenn Murray who is finally getting to prove his worth at the highest level. The 31-year-old has five goals in five outings including a classic poacher’s effort against Man City on Easter Monday.

Murray now has the best goals per minute record in the top flight and 33/1 (BetVictor) on him firing in a 1-0 Palace victory looks intriguing.