Sunderland - Pick'em/-.5 goals over Birmingham in Week 1 of Englis Premier League I laid 1.10 at Pick'em and -.5 goals over Birmingham in Week 1 of the EPL. Now I got down at Pinny as they are taking two dime bets. Once I played it they immediately took it offline. They will let the action continue on this though and both of these teams have players I think of very highly. Joe Hart is the Goalkeeper for Birmingham and really should have started for England in the World Cup, but politics and Fabio Capello being who he is rather put Green or the aging David James to protect the net for the Three Lions. That being what it is, Birmingham has struggled on the road and Hart has as well, giving up nearly one more goal on their road games through the 2009-2010 campaign as they do at home (.68 goals at home vs. 1.78 goals on the road).
The less than stellar defense is coupled with an equally inept offense that is really going to struggle this year to find goal scorers.
I am playing for a lot of early season value on Sunderland as they gained three spots in the EPL table to finish last year in 13th, up from 16th in the 08-09 campaign. The Stadium of Light was a refuge last year as they played a very respectable 9 wins, 7 draws, and 2 losses. I like what Sunderland has done in the summer signing Keiren Richardson to a three-year deal and picking up Cristian Riveros, who had a solid world cup for Paraguay.
They also strengthened their midfield and back line with Titus Bramble, Argentina's Marcos Angeleri, and battle-tested Egyptian defender Ahmed Al-Muhammadi. One notable loss some may be familiar with is John Mensah, the Ghanaian defender on loan from Olympique Lyonais last season.
The net result is a season which sees the Wearsiders break back to the top half of the table and sees them as one of the real early season values in European Soccer...
