English Premier
2026-03-14 - Sunderland vs Brighton
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 14th March 2026 - Kick Off 3pm
Sunderland
Regis Le Bris did make some changes, but his Sunderland team still did enough to find a way to at least earn Extra Time in the FA Cup Fifth Round tie at Port Vale last week. Unfortunately for the team, the struggles in the final third let Sunderland down and the Cup upset will have hurt just a couple of wins away from an appearance at Wembley Stadium just eleven months after winning a Play Off Final at the home of the national team.
Fans will be frustrated, but they will also be firmly behind the manager and the players who have guided Sunderland into 11th place in the Premier League table and with an outside chance of pushing into the European places. The Black Cats will be very keen to finish above rivals Newcastle United, and the next Tyne-Wear derby is coming up, but the focus this weekend has to be on improving the 7-5-2 record at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland have won just 2 of the last 7 games in all competitions and they have been beaten 4 times in that run as the team have just hit the wall in some respects. After opening the Premier League season unbeaten in 12 at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland have lost consecutive League games here against Liverpool and Fulham.
Nordi Mukiele, Dennis Cirkin, Reinildo and Brian Brobbey are all hoping to be available for selection this weekend. Robin Roefs has also been out with an injury, but he looks to be targeting a return for the derby against Newcastle United next weekend.
Brighton
Good performances will give teams something to build upon, but Brighton will have been frustrated with the 0-1 defeat to Premier League leaders Arsenal having arguably been the better team on the day. Fabian Hurzeler was far from impressed with the style employed by Arsenal on that night, but the Brighton manager is also under pressure as he continues to oversee a season of underachievement.
Playing in European Football has been the target of the Brighton board since Roberto De Zerbi left and was replaced by Hurzeler, but they have yet to return to any UEFA competition and The Seagulls are 14th in the Premier League table this season. There are 7 points between Brighton and the top seven places and the side have a disappointing 3-4-7 away record in this Division.
Brighton were beaten 0-1 by Arsenal in the last fixture played and that snapped a run of consecutive Premier League victories, while also meaning the team have lost 4 of the last 6 in all competitions. The side had lost 3 away games in a row in all competitions since winning at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Third Round, but Brighton did end that sequence with a 0-2 win at Brentford in February.
Lewis Dunk, Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma are hoping having a weekend off from competitive action allows them to be available to travel to the North East.
Head to Head
These two teams played out a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium in December.
Sunderland have won the last 5 when hosting Brighton, but the last of those fixtures was played in October 2004.
Prediction
There was always going to be a period of the season when Sunderland would struggle and the team have been moving through a difficult run.
The FA Cup Fifth Round defeat to Port Vale will have stung, but the fans are not going to lose faith with Regis Le Bris nor the players.
Sunderland have used the Stadium of Light to put together the foundation for survival in the Premier League, but even recent outings at home have proven to be tougher.
Back to back defeats to Liverpool and Fulham have continued a recent slump in form and Sunderland are just having troubles in the final third. They have at least shown a bit more resilience in the last couple of Premier League games when earning positive results at Bournemouth and Leeds United and Sunderland have just gone back to basics by making themselves hard to break down.
Regis Le Bris will be aware that his Sunderland team are struggling for consistency in the final third- since beating Burnley 3-0 here, Sunderland have scored four goals in 7 fixtures in all competitions. However, in 5 of those 7 games, Sunderland have not conceded more than a single goal and that is something they will be looking to showcase when hosting Brighton.
Fabian Hurzeler may have been far from happy with the style employed by Arsenal in the 0-1 win at the Amex Stadium, but privately he will be a little disappointed with his Brighton performance in the final third. They had moved into plenty of promising positions, but Brighton did not create a lot of good chances and this is a team who have struggled for consistency in the final third.
Brighton have won 2 of the last 6 games in all competitions, but they have failed to score in the other 4 fixtures in that run.
An early goal could see the fixture change on the day and that was the case when Brighton hosted Nottingham Forest a couple of weeks ago with all three goals scored in the first 15 minutes. Clinical finishing proved to be the key that day, but Brighton are not a team who have created a lot of quality chances in recent games and Sunderland have proven to be a stubborn team to break down.
There was nothing between the teams on the South Coast and this could be another closely fought fixture between two clubs chasing European Football.
The first goal could be crucial in deciding a winner, but the best play looks to be backing fewer than three goals to be shared out between Brighton and Sunderland for a second time in the Premier League this season.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Sunderland 0-0 Brighton
