17:30 Saturday

Sunderland, sitting in a respectable 4th place, prepare to host league leaders Arsenal in a highly anticipated Premier League clash at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland vs Arsenal Form & Head to Head

Sunderland's most recent league match saw them draw 1-1 at home against Everton. The Black Cats are unbeaten at home in the Premier League this season, with three wins and two draws. However, prior to the draw against Everton, Tony Mowbray's side won 2-1 away to Chelsea.

Arsenal enter this match on the back of a commanding 3-0 away victory against Slavia Prague in the Champions League. The Gunners are currently enjoying a rich vein of form, having won their last five Premier League matches and keeping a clean sheet in the last four. The North London club are undefeated in their last 12 matches against Sunderland in all competitions.

The last time these two teams met, Arsenal emerged victorious with a 5-1 win in the League Cup back in December 2021.

Across the last six encounters, Arsenal have dominated Sunderland, winning five and drawing one. The Gunners have also scored at least two goals in five of their last six matches against Sunderland.

Sunderland vs Arsenal Predictied Lineups

Sunderland (5-4-1): Roefs; Hume, Mandava, Geertruida, Ballard, Mukiele; Fée, Huggins, Xhaka, Traoré; Isidor

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Raya; Calafiori, Magalhães, Saliba, Timber; Rice, Zubimendi; Martinelli, Eze, Saka; Merino

Sunderland vs Arsenal Team News

  • Omar Alderete is being assessed after missing the last two games due to concussion.
  • None of Sunderland's previous absentees are likely to return.
  • Granit Xhaka will captain the Black Cats against his former club.
  • Viktor Gyokeres (hamstring) has joined the growing list of absentees at the top end of the pitch for Arsenal.
  • Mikel Merino, who scored twice against Slavia Prague in the Champions League, is expected to deputise up front.
  • Noni Madueke, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus won't be involved until after the international break.

 

Sunderland vs Arsenal Match Prediction

  • This would have been a clash of the top-two if Sunderland had completed the turnaround and beaten Everton on Monday.
  • Ultimately, the Black Cats had to settle for just a point, but they're still unbeaten at home in the Premier League this season (W3 D2) and will relish the leaders coming to town despite not beating them in the top-flight for 16 years.
  • Arsenal head to the Stadium of Light in simply incredible form after the Champions League win over Slavia Prague made it 10 wins on the bounce and eight in a row without letting in a goal.
  • It's been 776 minutes across all competitions since the Gunners last conceded and another clean sheet in the North East will see Mikel Arteta's side set a new English record of nine in succession.

Score Prediction: Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal

Who are the betting favourites in Sunderland vs Arsenal?

Arsenal are firm favourites to beat Sunderland at a best price of 2/5 with various bookmakers.

Result Odds
Sunderland 17/2
Draw 4/1
Arsenal 2/5

 

Oli Nixon's Sunderland vs Arsenal Bet Builder Tips

When the 2025/2026 fixtures were released, few Black Cats fans would have dreamt that it would have been a clash between two sides occupying places in the top four, however, Sunderland have the chance to move within four points of the league leaders heading into the international break if they can pull off an unlikely victory.

Bet builder – Dan Ballard o0.5 shots, Reinildo Mandava o1.5 fouls committed and Bukayo Saka o1.5 fouls committed  

At the time of publishing it is a best price of 12/1 with bet365.

Dan Ballard Over 0.5 shots

No centre back in the Premier League has had more shots than Sunderland’s Dan Ballard and whilst two players can match his total of eight, he’s played half as many games as both Gabriel and Marc Guehi. The giant centre back has managed at least one effort in every game other than against Burnley where he went off injured after just nine minutes. He’s averaging 2.02 shots per 90 and is the target for first contact from every long throw, corner and wide free kick.

Whilst Arsenal have only conceded 2.2 shots from set pieces per game this season, their record of having conceded the third most goals from dead ball situations in the division last season hints at a fragility in this area. The last time they faced a side strong from set pieces, Crystal Palace’s centre backs were afforded three efforts at goal and given that Ballard is such an aerial threat, he may be Sunderland’s best route to goal.

Reinildo Mandava Over 1.5 fouls committed

Since arriving in England, Sunderland left back Reinildo Mandava has committed 1.26 fouls per 90 and looks to be in for a tough evening on Saturday. This leg of our betbuilder would have cashed in each of the Mozambique international’s last three starts where he’s faced tricky wingers in the form of Iliman Ndiaye, Pedro Neto and Evan Guessand.

If that form is anything to go by, we can expect Reinildo to get stuck in once more up against Bukayo Saka who is drawing 2.43 fouls per 90 in league action this season. The last 12 left backs to face Arsenal have committed 24 fouls between them with eight of those managing at least two offences and Reinildo’s front footed approach should lead to a few more.

Bukayo Saka Over 1.5 fouls committed

Having mentioned Saka’s record for drawing fouls, it would be silly to ignore his record of 1.36 fouls committed in Premier League action this season. The winger seems to be retaliating to the regular kicking he’s been getting this season and has made two or more fouls in three of his last six appearances.

Key to this selection is that Saka’s direct opponent Reinildo is also well adept at drawing contact, being felled 2.2 times per 90 this season. This is a trait that the full back exhibited consistently during his time in La Liga where he drew 1.73 fouls per 90 last season and so he clearly needs no invitation to go down. In what looks to be a key battle down Arsenal’s right-hand side, hopefully there’s plenty of fouls in amongst Saka and Reinildo’s duels to land our betbuilder.