FA Cup: Peterborough United vs Sunderland Odds and Betting Preview

PETERBOROUGH, UK - Championship side Peterborough host Premier League Sunderland in one of the final FA Cup Third Round matches of this weekend. After a day of a few but not too many upsets yesterday, neutrals will be hoping that Peterborough, priced at 3/1 (bet £10 to win £30) to beat Sunderland with Paddy Power, Bet365 and Blue Square, can surprise the odds. Sunderland are 19/20 favourites, only with Stan James, while you can back the draw at a top price of 13/5 with Sky Bet and Betfred.

There were two ties yesterday between a Championship side at home to a Premier League side, as Barnsley lost 4-2 at home to Swansea, and Birmingham City held Wolves at home 0-0, which means a replay in 10 days time for the two Midlands clubs. If Peterborough manage to hold Sunderland to a draw here, Posh will travel up the east coast of England to play a replay at the Stadium of Light. Posh are best at 2/1 with Bet365 to qualify for fourth round in either tie, while the Black Cats are best at 4/9 with Blue Square and William Hill.

After sacking manager Steve Bruce and replacing him with Martin O'Neill, Sunderland have been the in-form side in the Premier League, and would top a league table made of the four games over the Christmas period with 10 points from a possible 12. This run has propelled them up the table into 10th, seemingly safe from a relegation battle for the time being, and so the FA Cup gives them the best opportunity of something to play for. We should then expect Martin O'Neill to send out a strong team to take them into the fourth round. 

Peterborough are 16th in the 24-team Championship, enjoying an unbeaten run of 5 games, in which they have beaten Forest and Coventry, and held Middlesborough and Birmingham City. In games against supposedly superior opposition, Posh have generally been beaten - 4 of their 7 games against the top 6 in the league they have lost, drawing 2 and winning the other against Cardiff 4-3. 

Most of those game have been close though - losing 3-2, 2-1 and 1-0 twice - and you can back then to just fall short by losing 1-0 at 10/1 on Betfair. 2-1 to Sunderland is 8/1 with Betfred and Blue Square, while 2-0 to the away side is priced best at 11/1 with Paddy Power. Posh are 5/6 with Paddy Power to win with an artificial (+1) goal advantage, and best with Victor Chandler at 1/3 with a (+2) advantage. 

Sunderland have an impressive record away to the lesser teams in the Premier League - beating all of Wigan Athletic, QPR and Bolton (though losing at Wolves 2-1), amassing 9 goals in those three teams. They are 14/5 with Stan James to win with a (-1) handicap today, and 20/1 with Coral to win by a 3-0 scoreline. 13/2 is the price offered by Coral for Sunderland to win with a (-2) handicap. 

There have been an average of exactly 2.5 goals per game in Sunderland's away games this season, while Posh have an average of 3.92 goals per game at London Road. You can back over 2.5 goals at 8/11 with Ladbrokes while under 2.5 goals is a top price of 6/5 with Victor Chandler.

Phil Bardsley, Wes Brown and Titus Bramble are all doubtful for Sunderland, while Jack Colback, Sebastian Larsson and Conor Wickham are definitely ruled out. Posh have Scott Wooton, Josh Thompson and Grant McCann all available again. 

The match kicks off at 1530 GMT and is live on ITV.

Match Result Odds