Sunderland v Tottenham Tip

To most people’s minds this lunchtime match would be an incredibly tough one to call - but not, it seems, if you are bookie. Tottenham are priced up at barely credible best odds of 5/4 (PaddyPower) while Sunderland are out at 13/5 with Boylesports; the huge disparity makes our choice of bet a no-brainer.

It may be fourth against ninth, but that hardly tells the whole story. Since Martin O’Neill took the reigns at the Stadium of Light, the Mackems have taken 30 points in 17 games; only the Manchester giants have surpassed that total. Sunderland have also only lost one of their last eight Premier League home matches; that was with the last kick to Arsenal, and revenge was swift in the FA Cup anyway. The hosts have also scored in each of their last nine league outings on their own patch.

Contrast that with a Spurs side without a victory on their travels in the top flight in six attempts. Indeed, the home success against Swansea last time out was the first three-point haul anywhere since 11 February. Tottenham have left the north-east with the spoils only once - last season - in their last six visits. So we’re not exactly talking about a happy-hunting ground even before Martin O’Neill came along and raised the bar.

Harry Redknapp will hope that his boys have turned a corner, but this will be one of his team’s toughest assignments in the race for the Champions League. The Black Cats became the first team to claim a positive result away to Manchester City last week, and a 3-3 draw should have been a win. They remain bafflingly under-estimated and are quite an obvious value pick at best odds of 13/5 with Boylesports.