Sunderland v Middlesbrough 1:30pm

All three teams in the north-east look to be on the up at the minute and Sunday’s game is a chance for Tony Mowbray’s Boro to show they are capable of hanging with the big boys. The Teessiders are currently fourth in the Championship, just five points off the automatic promotion places.

Mowbray has done a great job rescuing the club after Gordon Strachan had done his best to turn Middlesbrough into a retirement home for Rangers and Celtic has-beens. Having made a great start to the season, the Riverside outfit have suffered a dip in form of late, winning just one of their last five in all competitions. That solitary victory came in the third round of the FA Cup when they narrowly avoided a replay against Shrewsbury.

Mowbray’s team has been crippled by injuries and suspensions of late, and his hands will be tied again for the trip to Sunderland with Nicky Bailey, Julio Arca, Kevin Thomson, Jason Steele and Bart Ogbeche all out.

While Middlesbrough’s form has dipped Sunderland’s resurrection under Martin O’Neill shows no signs of slowing down. The 2-0 win over Swansea makes it six wins in nine matches since O’Neill took the reins at the Stadium of Light. Having guided the Black Cats away from the relegation zone, O’Neill has set his sights on taking Sunderland on a cup run.  The Northern Irishman played a near full-strength team against Peterborough in the last round and with the expectation of Nicklas Bendtner will almost certainly do the same again.

Sunderland are 4/6 to win, with Boro at 5/1 and the draw at 11/4 in the match betting. With the home side a very short price you might want to look towards Stéphane Sessègnon at 11/8 to score anytime given the form he has been in recently.

Arsenal v Aston Villa 4pm

The Gunners are desperately looking for a pick-me-up after an alarming dip in form recently, the defeat to Manchester United last weekend making it three losses on the bounce for the north Londoners. All the good work Arsenal had done after a shocking start to the season appears to have been wasted and the Emirates Stadium faithful will be desperate to see their team win by any means necessary.

The news that Jack Wilshere could miss the rest of the season won’t have improved the mood amongst Arsenal fans but even so they will be confident of beating Aston Villa. Mikel Arteta, Thierry Henry and Bacary Sagna could all return for the Gunners and that would be a timely boost given their problems up front and in defence. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could also get a run out after his man-of-the-match performance last week.

Last time Villa played at the Emirates Stadium they won 2-1 but that was under Gerard Houllier and with Stewart Downing and Ashley Young in the team. Villa’s style under new boss Alex McLeish has changed but it is starting to pay dividends with three wins in their last six matches. The addition of Robbie Keane to the squad looks to have been a shrewd one after his brace last week helped Villa beat Wolves.

The former Tottenham striker is 2/1 to score anytime against Arsenal and you wouldn’t bet against it if he gets a run out. Villa are tough to break down and gave Arsenal a real scare in the clash at Villa Park in December so this one looks destine for a replay. The draw is 11/4 in the match betting, with Arsenal 4/7 and Villa 5/1.

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