Sunderland vs Manchester Utd

Tom Allen was right when he predicted that Manchester United wouldn’t find it easy at the Stadium of Light with only a late goal from the 17-year old Federico Macheda sealing the 3pts for Fergie’s men.

With our handicap back of Sunderland we made our money back for a somewhat satisfying Easter afternoon.

A clash of two of the most out-of-sorts sides in the top flight at the Stadium of Light on Saturday and both Sunderland and Manchester United will be desperate for three points when they meet.

United, having looked so strong a month ago, have suffered recent defeats to Fulham and Liverpool and even victory over Aston Villa in such dramatic fashion last time out did little to convince they had turned the corner. I witnessed them first hand at Old Trafford on Tuesday put in one the most abject performances I have ever seen from a Sir Alex Ferguson-managed side and the great Scot must be wondering where it all went wrong.

Injuries and suspension look set to rule out Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Jonny Evans from the trip to the north-east and that would mean John O’Shea partnering Gary Neville in the centre of defence. The pair are more than capable but the Irishman was well below his best against the Porto and should Ricky Sbragia choose to go with both Jones and Cisse up front then I can see them causing United no end of problems.

The 8.50 on offer about a home win would look huge were Sunderland not struggling so badly themselves but this must be viewed as a decent, and unexpected, opportunity to get some points on the board in their bid to fight off relegation and I think it will be a closely fought contest.

Whether or not Sunderland have enough quality is debatable but they rarely get thumped on home soil and the even money about the Black Cats receiving a goal head start appeals. We’ll get our money back were they to succumb by the odd goal.

United are, of course, capable of clicking into gear at any moment with the players they possess but look a million miles from the team that carried all before them last season and through the first half of this and Fergie will be praying for a quick turnaround in fortunes. Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez were just about the only two players to emerge with any credit from the 2-2 draw in midweek, the first named in particular, but the league leaders have won a little over half of their top flight games away from home and this looks set to be another tough test.