Alan Shearer has made a bold call for Sunderland versus Leeds United this afternoon, backing the visitors to come away from the Stadium of Light with all three points.
Leeds travel to the North East for today’s Premier League clash, though Daniel Farke’s preparations have been complicated by injury concerns. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Noah Okafor and Anton Stach are all major doubts, and their potential absences have shifted the mood around the fixture.
Chris Sutton had already offered his view, predicting a 1-1 draw just as these two sides played out last season. Shearer, however, has gone a step further with a prediction that will raise eyebrows among Sunderland supporters.
Writing in his latest Premier League predictions column for Metro, the former Newcastle striker tipped Leeds to win. His reasoning centred on Sunderland’s difficult run of form. Regis Le Bris’s side have lost five and drawn one of their last seven league games and currently sit bottom of the table.
“Sunderland are struggling; one reason is because of Europe, and one reason is that they haven’t got Brian Brobbey in there; he’s been out injured,” Shearer said.
Brobbey has not featured in the Premier League since scoring a hat-trick against Manchester City in September. Le Bris has confirmed the Dutch striker will be available again in time to face Leeds, which could give the hosts a timely boost.
“It’s no surprise,” Shearer continued. “I said that they’ll struggle this season because of the size of the squad that they’ve got. One of the players came out and criticised their performance and their hunger last weekend. But again, they’ll need a reaction. I’m not sure they’ll get it. I mean, the Leeds fans will come up in the thousands. So, I’m going to go away to win Leeds.”
If Leeds do secure victory with what is likely to be a weakened starting eleven, it would rank as an excellent result. Sunderland may be bottom, but they are unlikely to stay there. They are competing in the Europa League this season and have impressed in that competition, recording two wins and a draw from their first three matches.
A win this afternoon would also give Leeds a second away victory of the campaign already. For context, the club managed only two away wins across the whole of their previous Premier League season.
Converting more draws into wins on the road is the next step for this Leeds team, and today offers an immediate opportunity to show whether they can take it. All eyes will be on Farke’s team selection and whether any of the three doubtful players prove fit enough to feature.