Fulham v Sunderland: don’t expect thrills at Craven Cottage

Only the Premier League’s top six have a better home record than Fulham this season, which could encourage some punters to back them to beat Sunderland at 5/6 on Sunday.

Sunderland appeared relegation threatened until Martin O’Neill took charge in December, but now sit comfortably in mid-table, but may be best avoiding with nothing to play for at 3/1.

The draw appears the best call at 5/2, with Fulham having played out stalemates in five home matches this term, whilst the Black Cats have cancelled out their opposition in the same amount of away games.

A 0-0 scoreline has resulted in three of the past four meetings of these teams too, so punters could be inclined to invest in another goalless draw at 10/1.

However, either side have sharpened their attacking edge since last meeting, so it could prove a better bet to back them both to score in this match, which is a 4/5 hope.

Alternatively, punters may wish to invest in the possibility of a score draw occurring, which is an attractive 10/3 shot.

Clint Dempsey has had a sparkling season at Craven Cottage, notching 22 times across all competitions, and the powerful American is 5/1 favourite to score first on Sunday.

For the visitors, Nicklas Bendtner is aiming to win a permanent Stadium of Light contract, so will hope to justify 7/1 odds about him netting the opener to aid his chances.

It is worth noting that having drawn their last three games, travelling Sunderland went into half-time level in each of these fixtures, so the 5/1 odds for the teams to be drawing at half-time and full-time will appeal to many.

Each team have gone into the break level in the majority of their fixtures this season too, lending further weight to the claim that that 5/1 price should not be ignored.