Sunderland play the 2nd leg of the championship playoffs tonight against Coventry. Coventry or draw , rudoni over 0.5 shots @ 1.70 odds
Sunderland vs Coventry City head-to-head stats
- Ahead of their 50th meeting across competitions, Coventry lead Sunderland 18-13 but lost their latest meeting last week.
- The Sky Blues have just one loss in 11 meetings in the fixture, winning five.
- Sunderland have won one of their last three home games – all in the Championship – losing the last three.
- Coventry are winless in five outings on the road – all in the Championship – losing three, including the last two.
- Form guide (last five games across competitions, most recent result first): Sunderland: W-L-L-L-L; Coventry: L-W-L-L-W
Sunderland vs Coventry predictions
It’s eight years since Sunderland were relegated from the Premier League but they’ve been to Wembley four times since and can book another trip to the biggest theatre of all with victory against Coventry.
There has been playoff joy and heartache along the way, but as the Black Cats have fought their way back up from League One they have registered seven wins and a draw in eight home matches in the EFL playoffs.
There was a loss of focus towards the end of the regular season in the Championship this year and they closed their campaign with five success defeats.
But the Wearsiders were switched on from the first whistle for the first leg of their playoff semi-final on Friday and were rewarded with a vital 2-1 victory.
Regis Le Bris set his team up in a 4-4-2 formation and was quite happy for his players to defend in depth and look for decisive moments on the counter-attack.
The strategy worked a treat with starting centre-forwards Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda helping themselves to a goal apiece.
Coventry may feel a little bit hard done but their dominant 74 per cent share of possession did not translate to enough clear-cut openings and they were forced to accept a narrow loss to a side they had beaten 3-0 in a home league fixture less than two months previously.
However, the task of recovering from a first-leg loss is unlikely to faze Sky Blues’ manager Frank Lampard, who has a positive experience he can draw upon.
Lampard was in charge of Derby’s 2018-19 Championship playoff campaign and oversaw a 1-0 loss to Leeds in the semi-final home leg before masterminding a 4-2 victory in the return match at Elland Road.
However, the Rams’ triumph on that occasion was assisted by playing against a Marcelo Bielsa-coached Leeds side who refused to compromise their attacking principles.
Coventry’s challenge at Sunderland could be tactically trickier for Lampard because his team will be up against more cautious opponents.
Sunderland defended superbly in the first leg and centre-back Dan Ballard delivered an imperious performance on his first start since February.
Ballard was cramping up towards the end but his influence on the team was a huge factor in their victory.
