Despite the of lack of goals, and blip in from 67% of our pundits are backing Tottenham to take all 3 points from The Stadium of Light this weekend. Is there another banana skin waiting for AVB's men in the North East?
Sunderland
Gus Poyet's boys might be sitting rock bottom in the league right now but their performances in the past few weeks suggest that the table might be telling some little lies. Since Poyet's arrival Sunderland have looked far more organised at the back, and many players who looked like they'd given up under the Di Canio reigeme are playing with a new vigour that is betrayed by the set of results their side have had.
It's worth noting that Sunderland have faced Chelsea and Manchester City in their last 4. They beat City and kept a clean sheet, and were unlucky not to get something from the narrow defeat to Chelsea but in both games they showed plenty of character and resilience. If they keep playing like that more positive results are certain to be around the corner, especially against a team like Tottenham who have scored just 6 away goals all season.
Tottenham
Spurs' early promise has dwindled a little in the past few weeks. Just 1 win in their last 5 games has raised question marks about just how much the lack of Bale's fire power has effected the team and they could find themselves struggling for goals once again against a Sunderland team who have improved drastically at the back since the arrival of Gus Poyet.
A late goal gave Tottenham a much needed win in mid-week but Sunderland will be a much tougher challenge than Fulham were, and Tottenham will need to rely on their back line to keep Sunderland out of they want to come away with all 3 points.
Our Prediction
Tottenham might just be exactly the sort of big scalp that an improving Sunderland team are looking for right now. A goal shy Spurs side may well struggle against a well organised Tottenham defence and if Sunderland get a rub of the green they could even take all 3 points.
This is really a battle between two teams who have good credentials at the back, but have seriously struggled for goals so it could be a low scoring affair won by very fine margins. We're not confident of a Tottenham win and are backing the draw purely on the basis that Sunderland lack serious firepower themselves.