Sunderland’s 3-0 win over West Ham on the opening weekend really set the tone for both teams’ seasons, but it doesn’t really help me much here.<\/p>\n
The Hammers’ win at Tottenham last week was extraordinary given their form going into that game, but their home record is still extremely poor.<\/p>\n
Sunderland, meanwhile, are not the same force on the road as they are at the Stadium of Light, and they have not won away since the end of October.<\/p>\n
Still, it has been such a strange season, with everyone beating everyone, that form, history, tables and stats are not really much help with these predictions anyway.<\/p>\n
In the past few weeks, I have thought too much about AI and gone down the stat route to try to beat it at its own game, but that’s not how I won the predictions title in previous seasons.<\/p>\n
I need to go with my gut instinct more, and that’s what I’m doing here.<\/p>\n
Sutton’s prediction: 1-1<\/p>\n