English Premier
2025-08-16 - Sunderland vs West Ham United
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 16th August 2025 - Kick Off 3pm
Sunderland
After suffering back to back relegations and having all of the pain shown on a Netflix documentary, Sunderland fans are walking with much more pride these days. New investors have helped put together a successful structure and Sunderland earned promotion for the second time in four seasons to book their return to the Premier League.
Regis Le Bris deserves a lot of credit for the work done over the last twelve months and others like Alex Neil and Tony Mowbray also deserve some respect for guiding this 'sleeping giant' out of a slumber. Plenty of investment has been made this summer to help Sunderland compete, but there is little doubt that this is going to be a challenging campaign with the last six promoted clubs all being relegated immediately.
Sunderland will know the importance of the Stadium of Light towards any successful consolidation at this level, but they finished with a 12-7-4 record here in the Championship. The Black Cats had also lost 5 Championship games in a row before surprisingly fighting through the Play Offs with an upset over Sheffield United in the Final. Sunderland have lost their last 4 home games by the same 0-1 scoreline.
Granit Xhaka has been signed as part of ten new signings, including Simon Adingra. Gelling the team together with so many new faces is the challenge for the manager, while last season's top scorer Wilson Isidor is available.
West Ham United
In the last couple of years, the newly promoted clubs have not been very competitive in the Premier League, but those tipping up potential strugglers from the established clubs may look at West Ham United. Graham Potter did not make the kind of impact that the fans would have hoped when arriving mid-season, while the lack of investment in the squad has been a concern, especially having sold Muhammed Kudus to rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
David Moyes left at the end of the 2023/24 season, but West Ham United finished 14th in the Premier League table, which is the joint lowest finish since the Covid-impacted 2020 campaign. The Hammers ended the last season with a 6-5-8 away record and they scored just 23 goals in those matches.
West Ham United did end last season with a single loss in 4 Premier League games played and they won half of those matches, while also enjoying a decent enough pre-season. The side won back to back away matches at Manchester United and Ipswich Town having previously lost 3 away League games in succession.
Crysensio Summerville is expected to return after the September international break having missed significant time. Mads Hermansen has signed from Leicester City and could be the new goalkeeper, while Callum Wilson may have to bide his time after Niclas Fullkrug's pre-season form.
Head to Head
Sunderland and West Ham United are facing one another for the first time since the 2016/17 Premier League season and it was the latter who picked up four points in the two fixtures played.
The game at the Stadium of Light finished 2-2 and means the last 3 between these clubs in this part of the North East have all ended in draws.
Prediction
A return to the Premier League has to be celebrated, but the feeling is that it could be a tough nine months coming up for Sunderland fans, despite the investment made in the squad.
In the last two seasons, promoted clubs have not been very competitive in the top flight and the feeling is that Sunderland are lacking experience.
Signing Granit Xhaka will help and a lot of money has been spent in the summer to improve the team, but there is early pressure to make use of the fixtures that have been handed to them. Before the September international break, Sunderland face a fellow promoted club away from home, but host Brentford and West Ham United at the Stadium of Light.
Those two clubs have been tipped up as potential strugglers and so this is a big early test for Sunderland to show where they stand.
The West Ham United fans have been frustrated by what they perceive to be a lack of ambition in the transfer market, while they remain unconvinced about Graham Potter as manager to take the club forward. They were simply inconsistent through the course of the season, but West Ham United did win back to back away games to conclude the campaign.
West Ham United have won 4 of the 6 away games played against newly promoted clubs over the last couple of seasons and only suffered a single defeat in that time. The squad has had a couple of new players signed to try and improve the team and West Ham United still call on the quality of Jarrod Bowen, which can be a difference maker at this level.
Niclas Fullkrug has also been in good form in the pre-season as West Ham United look for more goals, but they will have to weather the storm that the atmosphere at the Stadium of Light should generate.
They have shown they can handle those pressures though and this could be another early season fixture where goals are not easy to find.
Goals per game over the course of the season may have averaged at 2.9 per match, but 7 of the opening 10 League fixtures last season ended with fewer than three goals shared out. That includes all three matches featuring the newly promoted clubs and it could be a trend that extends into this fixture on Saturday afternoon.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Sunderland 1-1 West Ham United
