Sunderland have enjoyed themselves back in the Premier League so far this season and their impressive form looks set to continue against Everton on Monday.
The Premier League weekend concludes at the Stadium of Light on Monday night with an 8pm kick-off between Sunderland and Everton.
The Black Cats are looking for their third top-flight win in a row after impressively climbing to seventh place with back-to-back wins over Wolves and Chelsea.
Everton are not in such good shape after a promising start to the season and have fallen to 15th after losing without scoring in their last two games against Manchester City and Tottenham.
This will be the first league meeting between the teams since the 2016-17 season, when Everton completed a double over the north-east side.
Sunderland v Everton Bet Builder Tips
Sunderland to win @ 19/10
Under 2.5 goals @ 3/5
Everton to receive the first card @ 5/6
Pays out at 13/2
Black Cats loving top-flight life
Sunderland’s fans might not have even dared to hope to be in the top half of the Premier League in their first season after promotion as Championship play-off winners but they may feel that they belong there after a notable away win at Chelsea in their last league game.
Regis Le Bris’s team have done their best work at home, though, and will be confident of keeping that up when they host Everton on Monday night.
The Black Cats have taken 10 points from their first three top-flight home games, beating West Ham, Brentford and Wolves and drawing with Aston Villa.
That’s not a list of the elite teams in the division but Everton would not belong in that category either and the Toffees look vulnerable against the in-form home side.
Everton have struggled on the road so far, losing three of their four away games at Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester City, and while they were able to beat rock-bottom Wolves, they suffered an EFL Cup defeat against them when they returned to Molineux.
Everton manager David Moyes was in charge at Sunderland when they were relegated from the Premier League in 2016-17 and after his current team lost by multiple goals to nil in their last two games against Manchester City and Tottenham, they could be in for a tough evening.
Leg 1: Sunderland to win @ 19/10
Goals could be scarce
Sunderland are having fun in the Premier League but they are hardly great entertainers and if they are successful on Monday night it could come in a game with no more than two goals.
More than three certainly seems unlikely as just one of the teams’ combined 18 league games this season has produced over 3.5 goals.
It may be worth improving the return by taking under 2.5, however.
Before their 90th-minute winner against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Sunderland had been on a run of five straight games all featuring no more than two goals.
Seven of Everton’s 11 matches in all competitions this season have had under 2.5 goals and Moyes will want his team to tighten up after conceding five times without reply in their last two outings.
Leg 2: Under 2.5 goals @ 3/5
Toffees could rile referee first
Everton have incurred the wrath of the match officials more often than Sunderland this season, collecting 22 cards in the league compared to just 15 for the home side.
Manchester City and Tottenham did not pick up a single caution between them against the Toffees, while two Everton players were booked in each of their last two games, so it’s worth adding an away player to receive the first card to our bet builder.
There were no yellow cards at all in Sunderland’s latest home game against Wolves, while they picked up only one caution in the win over Chelsea.
Leg 3: Everton to receive the first card @ 5/6
