Sunderland and Villa meet in New Year relegation encounter

Lee Gormley | December 31, 2015

Sunderland v Villa

Sunderland and Villa vie for New Year success

Both Sunderland and Aston Villa currently sit in daunting relegation positions in the Premier League table, but have a chance to star the New Year positively as they collide at the Stadium of Light.

Villa haplessly sit rock bottom of the standings, with the Wearside outfit just four points above them, and will be in search of a momentous victory on their travels, which they are 21/10 with Coral to earn.

The visiting West Midlands side have incredibly not won a league match since the opening day of the season against Bournemouth, while Sam Allardyce’s Black Cats have lost five successive domestic outings.

Sunderland are 11/8 to take three points on home turf, with Jermain Defoe their main source of attacking threat against the Villans and he is 7/4 to strike anytime.

Meanwhile, Villa frontman Rudy Gestede is 6/1 to open proceedings this time out in a crucial relegation encounter in the Premier League’s first set of 2016 fixtures.

Norwich v Southampton

Canaries host Saints

Norwich City have managed to overcome their next opponents Southampton on just one occasion since January 2008, but Alex Neil’s Canaries will look to end that torrid run with victory on home soil here.

The hosts are 21/10 to record three points at Carrow Road over a Saints side who come into this clash after an indifferent spell of form.

Ronald Koeman’s Saints rallied to a rampant 4-0 win over Arsenal previously, ending a hapless run of five successive games without triumphing. Although, they suffered another setback against West Ham United last time out with a loss at Upton Park and are 13/10 to recover again on their travels.

Cameron Jerome and Wes Hoolahan have both been excellent this term for Norwich and are 5/4 and 11/2 to strike anytime respectively, while the latter’s Republic of Ireland teammate Shane Long is 5/1 to open proceedings for Southampton.

West Bromwich Albion v Stoke City

Baggies battle Stoke at Hawthorns

In the other of this weekend’s lunchtime kick-offs, West Bromwich Albion welcome Stoke City to The Hawthorns for an intriguing tussle between two teams pushing for a top 10 position.

Mark Hughes’ Potters currently occupy 10th spot and are seen as one of the in-form sides in the top-flight, but Tony Pulis’ Baggies are only three places and six points below their opponents.

West Brom ended their five-game winless run with a narrow 1-0 triumph over Newcastle United last time out and they are 17/10 for home ruling again, while Stoke are 9/5 for a visiting victory.

Saido Berahino is in line to feature at The Hawthorns and is 5/1 to net the game’s last goal, while Potters poacher Bojan Krkic is 6/4 to net anytime in his latest appearance.

Related

Read our Premier League archive.

Coral’s top tip: Back Bojan to get on the scoresheet anytime for Stoke in their clash with West Brom at a tasty 6/4.