Sunderland vs Watford Prediction: Watford's season has gone from bad to worse as they sit just one point away from the relegation zone

Sunderland will welcome Watford at the Stadium of Light in Game Week 10 of the English Championship. Watford's season has gone from bad to worse as they sit just one point away from the relegation zone. Who will come out on top after 90 minutes?

Sunderland form

Sunderland bounced back from their narrow 1-0 home loss to Cardiff City with a convincing 3-0 away victory against struggling Sheffield Wednesday. The match saw Dan Ballard and Jack Clarke score within the first eight minutes, with Clarke adding another goal from a penalty later on. This win marks Sunderland's fourth victory in their last five Championship games, where they have scored a total of 14 goals. However, despite their recent success, Sunderland still sits four points behind third-placed Preston North End and eight points behind league leaders Leicester City.

Sunderland must improve their inconsistent performance at home, as they have only won three out of their last 13 league games at the Stadium of Light. Prior to their defeat against Cardiff, they had scored in 17 consecutive home games. Nevertheless, Sunderland has had positive results in their recent matches against Watford, winning five, drawing two, and losing only one out of their last eight home league encounters with the Hornets.

Sunderland Predicted Lineup

Patterson; Hume, O'Nien, Ballard, Huggins; Bellingham, Neil, Pritchard; Roberts, Burstow, Clarke

Watford form

After a disappointing performance in the Championship, winning only two out of nine games, it would have been expected that head coach Valerien Ismael would be on the verge of losing his job, considering the club's history of hiring and firing managers. However, surprisingly, Watford announced on Tuesday that Ismael has secured a new and improved contract, with sporting director Cristiano Giaretta expressing confidence in his work and progress. This news comes shortly after Watford's 3-2 home defeat to Middlesbrough and their previous 3-0 loss to Leeds United. Ismael has the responsibility of improving Watford's poor away form, as they have not won any of their last 14 away matches in all competitions since January, failing to score in eight of those games. Returning to victory on Wednesday may prove difficult for Watford, as they have only won one out of their last 12 visits to Sunderland, which was a 1-0 Premier League win in April 2017.

Watford Predicted Lineup

Bachmann; Porteous, Sierralta, Hoedt; Ngakia, Louza, Dele-Bashiru, Kayembe, Lewis; Bayo, Healey

Sunderland vs Watford Expert Tips

This weekend, we can anticipate a closely-contested match. Watford's terrible performance away from home and Sunderland's weak performance on their own turf suggest that the game will be a close one. However, the Black Cats are expected to have the upper hand on Wednesday and their strong offensive capability should allow them to score more goals than the Hornets. Expect over 2.5 goals in the game.