The Mackems have been one of the stories of the season with a points tally heading into Christmas \u2013 and a spate of AFCON departures \u2013 that ought to see them safe in spite of their preseason status as relegation favourites.<\/p>\n
For Newcastle, it\u2019s been a topsy-turvy season with some big Champions League results making up for a so-so domestic campaign, and they trail their promoted local rivals going into this explosive derby.<\/p>\n
Expecting a spicy affair is the ever-keen Peter Crouch<\/a>, who somehow never played in the Tyne-Wear showdown despite having a club list as long as\u2026 well, himself.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what he fancies on Sunday\u2026<\/p>\n Sunderland to win A Bet Builder on these selections pays at approximately 15\/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK OR TAP HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP<\/a><\/p>\n WHEN: Sunday, December 14th, 2pm It\u2019s one of the few derbies I didn\u2019t play in, but this is right up there with Liverpool and United or Arsenal and Spurs for me.<\/p>\n What makes this a bit special on Sunday is that they haven\u2019t played in the league in quite a long time \u2013 it\u2019s nearly ten years since they were both in the Premier League.<\/p>\n At Villa, I played in the first Birmingham derby after a similar gap and it was such an explosive game and atmosphere because of it. When teams play every season in the league you might lose a little bit of that edge from time to time, but this one\u2019s not happened in nearly a decade in the league, so it\u2019s a really big occasion.<\/p>\n There have been some iconic moments between the two sides over the years \u2013 I think back to Paolo Di Canio knee-sliding on the St James\u2019 Park pitch and Jermaine Defoe\u2019s stunning volley<\/a> in 2015 \u2013 it\u2019s a top fixture and the first one back after it being missed for a few years perks up everyone\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s been an incredible season for Sunderland so far this season. I did say at the start of the season that I thought they could be the one to stay up and buck the trend of recent seasons for promoted sides because I thought they\u2019d bought really well.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just adding the experience of Granit Xhaka, it was some of the other players they\u2019d brought in as a few of the promoted sides were chasing them. Sunderland got them and it\u2019s given them a big advantage.<\/p>\n Sunderland to Win<\/p>\n Whenever I\u2019ve seen them play this season, no matter who it was against \u2013 Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool \u2013 they\u2019ve always been in the game and posed a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n The manager, Regis Le Bris, has proven himself with getting them promoted and bringing in these new signings, and the atmosphere is always fantastic at the Stadium of Light. I thought they could stay up but they\u2019ve gone beyond my expectations so far this season and they can genuinely finish in the top half of the league now.<\/p>\n And when I see Newcastle I think they should be higher up in the table. They have a squad that should be competing for the top four, they have a great manager and, even though they lost Isak they have ben able to cope with that reasonably well in the forward areas with Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon stepping up. He\u2019s a real threat, a potential starter for England and a threat across the frontline.<\/p>\n You look at the midfield of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes and this is as good as any in the league, and usually they are sound defensively but there have been too many mistakes leading to goals and it\u2019s cost them this season<\/p>\n And that means I fancy the home side to nick this one on Sunday, 2-1 would be my prediction.<\/p>\n Granit Xhaka to commit 1+ fouls<\/p>\n He\u2019s been a real leader even though he just signed in the summer and his presence just improves the side. He has on average just under a foul a game and this is going to be a huge occasion so it\u2019s difficult to imagine he won\u2019t commit at least one more.<\/p>\n Wilson Isidor to have 1+ shots on target<\/p>\n Idisor\u2019s got four goals this season and is their top scorer. Three of those have come at home, and seven of his nine shots on target have been at the Stadium of Light as well. I think they\u2019ll score a couple against a Newcastle defence that\u2019s allowing more goals than we\u2019d have expected in previous seasons and he\u2019s the likeliest to be on the end of any chances, so a shot on target looks good for a bet builder.<\/p>\n Nick Woltemade to score or assist<\/p>\n I really like Nick Woltemade at the moment and the way he plays. He has five Premier League goals this season and got an assist against Spurs last week. Newcastle have attacking options around him so even if he doesn\u2019t score there\u2019s decent chance he sets up someone else and I do expect them to get a goal. There\u2019s every chance he\u2019s involved.<\/p>\n Sunderland to win A Bet Builder on these selections pays at approximately 15\/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK OR TAP HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP<\/a><\/p>\n *All odds quoted are correct at time of publication but subject to change<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/p>\n Tap here for PP.com\u2019s latest football odds<\/a><\/p>\n The Paddy Power Guide To Safer Gambling \u2013 Everything You Need To Know<\/a><\/p>\n
Granit Xhaka to commit 1+ fouls
Wilson Isidor to have 1+ shots on target
Nick Woltemade to score or assist<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Super-sub-small-banner-adjusted.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n
WHERE: Stadium of Light, Sunderland
TV: Sky Sports<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/newcustomeroffer.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n
Granit Xhaka to commit 1+ fouls
Wilson Isidor to have 1+ shots on target
Nick Woltemade to score or assist<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1430x194-2.webp.webp\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bit of a tasty one in the north-east this weekend Sunday sees the return of the Sunderland v…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-191478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}