Sunderland will look to end a five-game winless run on Tuesday when they welcome Burton Albion to the Stadium of Light for a League One contest.
The visitors are also struggling for form of late, having won just once in their previous five matches.
Match preview
© Reuters
Alex Neil's appointment as Sunderland boss has not brought about an end to their winless run, with the Scotsman's first two games in charge yielding a single point.
After drawing 1-1 away to AFC Wimbledon, the Black Cats played host to MK Dons on Saturday and after a goalless first half, it was the visitors who drew first blood, with Mo Eisa opening the scoring three minutes after the restart.
Sunderland hit back through Ross Stewart, who netted his 19th league goal of the season, but with less than 15 minutes to play, Connor Wickham came back to haunt his former club as he snatched all three points for the visitors.
That result leaves the Black Cats in 7th place, with goal difference keeping them out of the top six, but if they are to make the playoffs, Neil needs to find a winning formula.
Despite their recent poor run of form, Sunderland hold the joint-second best away record in the league, and they will be aiming for a 12th home league win of the season when they face Burton on Tuesday.
© Reuters
The Brewers, meanwhile, enter the midweek contest in a comfortable mid-table position, but Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will be concerned by his side's recent form.
Three of their last five games have ended in defeat, and in their most recent outing, they succumbed to a 3-0 away defeat against Ipswich Town.
Goals from Kayden Jackson, Wes Burns and Bersant Celina condemned the Burton Albion to back-to-back away defeats and another away trip awaits in midweek.
Finding the net on their travels has proved to be a tricky task for Burton, who have scored just 13 goals in their 16 away league matches.
However, Hasselbaink will hope that his side can draw inspiration from the 1-0 victory that they picked up against Sunderland in the reverse fixture.
- W
- L
- L
- L
- D
- L
- W
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Sunderland are still without the services Luke O'Nien, Aiden McGeady and Nathan Broadhead, who all remain injury absentees.
Goalkeeper Ron-Thorben Hoffman could come into the starting lineup after returning to the matchday squad on Saturday.
After featuring as second-half substitutes in the MK Dons defeat, Jack Clarke and Eliot Embleton could both come into the starting lineup for Tuesday's contest.
Meanwhile, Burton will not be able to call upon the services of Deji Oshilaja and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, who are ruled out due to injury issues.
Jonny Smith returned from injury to feature as a second half substitute on Saturday and the 24-year-old is expected to be on the bench on Tuesday.
After signing on a free transfer, Oumar Niasse made his debut for the Brewers at the weekend, and he could be given his first start for the club in midweek.
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Hoffman; Winchester, Wright, Doyle, Cirkin; Matete, Evans, Pritchard; Embleton, Clarke, Stewart
Burton Albion possible starting lineup:
Garratt; Hughes, Brayford, Blake-Tracey; Hamer, Powell, Maddox, Shaughnessy, Kokolo; Saydee, Niasse
We say: Sunderland 2-2 Burton Albion
Burton Albion have never tasted defeat at the Stadium of Light and with Sunderland currently enduring a winless run, we think that the Brewers will be able to hold their hosts to a draw on Tuesday.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sunderland win with a probability of 60.74%. A draw had a probability of 21.8% and a win for Burton Albion had a probability of 17.48%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sunderland win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.81%) and 2-1 (9.9%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.35%), while for a Burton Albion win it was 0-1 (5.42%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 10.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
