Sunderland vs. Norwich Betting Tips: Sargent to fire at Stadium of Light

Norwich City travel to the Stadium Of Light Saturday lunchtime, as they face Sunderland in the early kick off, live on Sky Sports main event.

Newly promoted Sunderland have adapted well to life in the Championship. They’ve collected 8 points from their opening 5 games, losing just once. However, the hosts have collected 6 of their 8 points away from home and are yet to secure all 3 points on home soil. They come into this fixture following an impressive 1-0 away win vs Stoke last weekend, which ultimately resulted in Stoke manager Michael O’Neill getting the sack. Another win here for the Black Cats could see them move into top spot albeit for a couple hours, depending on Sheffield United's result Friday night.

Norwich seem to have turned a corner after a slow start to the season. They opened their campaign with just 1 point from a possible 9, but have since recorded back to back league wins catapulting them into 8th position after just 5 games, 3 points behind leaders Sheffield United. Unlike their opponents here, Norwich seem to be struggling away from Carrow Road. The canaries have lost both of their away games this campaign, so I was surprised to see them as short as 13/10 ahead of this clash.

With Sunderland yet to win at home and Norwich yet to win away, I’ll be avoiding the 1x2 market and instead opting for some prop bets where I can see some great value.

Josh Sargent seems to have finally found his feet in a Norwich city shirt. The American forward scored twice in his last outing in a 2-0 win, making it 3 goals in his last 2 appearances. It looks like Dean Smith currently prefers him to lead the line over Teemu Pukki, and his form suggests this shouldn’t change here. A tactical switch in having Sargent as the main number 9 has not only seen him score a few goals, but although it’s early days he seems to be firing off the shots. Since his switch to striker he’s managed 11 total shots in 2 games, managing the 2 on target in both of these fixtures. I’m happy to have two points on him having three or more shots here at 10/11.

For my second bet I'll be sticking with the same strategy. Sunderland are happy to give up the shots especially as the underdog and with Norwich the heavy favourites they should be dominating the ball, which usually results in shots for the Canaries. Sunderland have conceded 15,22, and 20 shots across their last 3 games, so a high shot count for the away side here could be on the cards. Any striker playing in this Norwich side should never be 11/4 for 2 on target - Comparing this to Pukki who is 13/8 for 2 or more, I’m hoping Smith continues with Sargent to lead the line as there is definite value in a lot of his shot lines.

As well as the main bet on two or more shots, I'll be having a one point play on the American to have two or more shots on target at 11/4.

BettingOdds 22/23 –

Bets 4 – wins 2

P+L = +1.25 Points

ROI = 31.37%