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Martin Wanless predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 2
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Granit Xhaka
After a hard fought draw against Manchester City, the game against Spurs gives us a good opportunity to get maximum points on the board.
Spurs don’t have the best home record and I think there’s three points here for us if we want it.
I’m going for a win — with Xhaka getting the opener on his return to North London.
‘The Champion’ Malc Dugdale predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 3
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Brian Brobbey
The Lads were immense in midweek and I simply don’t think Spurs are in a place to deal with that, despite our team missing seven players who would fight for a starting berth if available.
Brobbey was unlucky against City and on another day, he and others could’ve nicked that game for us.
I’m backing the Lads to extend a poor home run for Spurs — who coincidentally, a lot of my extended family follow.
To John, Kyle, Joe and all my other family members who support Spurs (and who I would look to for on any other day), hopefully I’m apologising for adding to your misery come 5:00pm.
Jack Howe-Gingell predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 2
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Enzo Le Fée
A proper tough performance on Thursday. We got stuck into Man City and let them know they were in a real battle. Everyone stepped up,and it was real pleasure to see.
It’s a quick turnaround to today’s game with Tottenham, and the Lads will need to not rest on their laurels, and push on if we want to get anything.
Tottenham are having a “typical Tottenham” season thus far — although they don’t seem quite as dire as last season. Going away is always difficult at this level, but I really fancy us to go and get something.
Hopefully Eliezer Mayenda will keep his place in the side after a very encouraging display. He caused the City backline regular concerns, and did the spade work defensively — which is an absolute must.
We’ve ridden the wave of the “difficult December run” and come out relatively unscathed. Let’s keep pushing on, and see how far we can go.
Will Jones predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 1
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Omar Alderete
Still feeling the after-effects of Thursday night; the effort against Manchester City took some doing, and now it’s straight back down to London with tired legs and a short bench.
Spurs are a strange side — one minute they’re flying and the next they’re a mess, and their home crowd doesn’t need much encouragement to turn. If we stay organised and don’t give them anything early, you can feel the pressure shifting.
We probably won’t dominate the ball and that’s fine. Keep it tight, scrap for everything, and see where it takes us.
An Alderete goal from a set piece feels very “us” at the minute — and a point here would be a good latest return from a brutal run.
Matty Foster predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 1
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Granit Xhaka
What a performance it was on Thursday, as our impeccable home form went on.
We’re on the road for the next two, starting with a Spurs side who are hard to read from one game to the next, and although the Stadium of Light has been a fortress, the same can’t be said for Spurs and their stadium.
Barring the current bottom three, they have the worst home record, with only two wins out of nine and five defeats.
This is a cracking opportunity for us to put some more points on the board.
I predict us to frustrate Spurs, get the home crowd unsettled and nab a late winner.
Anthony Gair predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 1
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Eliezer Mayenda
This one will be one of those games where we’re actually on top for most of it, as Spurs fans get on their players’ backs.
I’m hoping we’ll attack for most of it, and that we try and just get as many shots at Vicario as possible.
Either way, if we turn up and play the way we did against Manchester City, we’ll be absolutely fine.
Gary Winter predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 1
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Eliezer Mayenda
What an unbelievable showing of grit, determination and organisation we witnessed against Manchester City.
It was astonishing to see us competing with Pep Guardiola’s side and listenening to him commending our play and say that we are “really good”. Let that sink in.
Tottenham have won just two games at home in the league, so this really is a big opportunity for us to get a result.
My only reservations are that we put in a hell of a shift on Thursday night, so I wonder if we can reasonably be expected to reproduce that same intensity again. Spurs have come off a match against Brentford described by fans on socials as one of the “worst games they’ve ever seen”, so they’re expecting a bounce back.
A draw would be a good result amongst a difficult run of fixtures and a busy schedule that’s stretching our wafer-thin squad. Mayenda looked sharp against Man City and I think he can grab our first goal today.
Brett Lyons-Davis predicts...
Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 2
Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Enzo Le Fée
Wow! What a performance on New Year’s Day.
The Lads gave absolutely everything and although they were under a lot of pressure, they could’ve nicked something. Hopefully they’ve had plenty of rest after Thursday as two London trips within a short period of time are calling.
Who knows what you are going to get against Spurs?
They can be sublime one minute and absolute garbage the next. If we go there and play with the same intensity as we did Manchester City, we’ll be coming home with the three points and a fantastic start to 2026.
Last Time Out…
Time and again, this team never ceases to amaze me.
The draw against City was described to me by a neutral family member as “the best 0-0 he’s ever watched” — and we were part of that.
Although we were under the pump a bit later, some great chances — especially for Brian Brobbey and Trai Hume — could well have swung that in our favour, but we all would’ve taken a point before the game kicked off and hence it was to be.
Last Game Predictions…
Confidence was lacking as we welcomed The Citizens to Wearside, but we did very well and those who didn’t foresee a battering or a narrow loss were best-placed.
No goals scored for either side so that extra point was negated, but the league point we just took off the potential champions was more than enough to compensate.
Predictions Table & Standings
Brett now has two fellow predictions lads breathing down his neck, in the shape of Jack and 2024/2025 champion Malc.
Other than those two, the only lad to pick up points was basement grafter Gair, who narrowed the gap to those above who had less faith — and took just rewards.
How the points are awarded
Just a quick reminder of how we allocate points to our match-by-match predictions:
Correct score = Three points
Correct outcome (but not correct score) = One point
Correct first Sunderland goalscorer = One point (no goalscorer is a valid call)
Possible deductions for being lazy and not submitting on time = a two-point deduction.