After last weekâs disaster show, weâll go back to basics today, with a solid defensive display and looking to capitalise on any opportunity to counter attack.
Wolves are a strange side as theyâve rarely looked as bad as their league position suggests, so to underestimate them would lead to trouble.
Wolves have had a weird season but after a right shocker last weekend, we absolutely need to correct it and at least get something today.
As weâre expecting and probably also hoping to have some wide men available, we may see a different approach for this game, for more than the obvious Forest-related reasons.
Whatever happens, the minimum I expect is a reaction, a solid shift and a good performance, even if itâs in a losing cause â which I very much hope isnât the case.
Q&A
What is Martin Wanless's score prediction for Sunderland vs Wolves?
Martin Wanless predicts a 1-1 draw between Sunderland and Wolves.
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Brobbey to open the scoring for us and a solid 0-3 win with a potentially late consolation for the home fans. A clean sheet would be great if we can get one.
Jack Howe-Gingell predictsâŠ
Score prediction: Wolves 0 Sunderland 2
Sunderlandâs first goalscorer: Brian Brobbey
Last Friday was a horror show, so we just need to quickly put it behind us and get back to more solid ground.
Itâs not often a team scores five goals from six shots on target so I donât expect lightning to strike twice, especially from already-relegated Wolves.
They have nothing more to lose now, and some have labelled this one a âdead rubberâ, but we should be looking to finish as highly as possible. Youâd also expect us to take charge against a team as poor as Wolves have been this season, and for the Lads to right a few wrongs from last time.
I think weâll have got our heads straight and will be well up for this one. A top ten finish during our first season back in the Premier League would be a great achievement, and winning games will get us there.
Will Jones predictsâŠ
Score prediction: Wolves 1 Sunderland 2
Sunderlandâs first goalscorer: Brian Brobbey
Wolves are down and with nothing to play for except to be a nuisance, so I donât expect them to be completely dead behind the eyes on Saturday.
That said, we should have enough. We still looked a bit ill on Friday; half a second off the pace with heavy legs. If weâre not sharp, theyâll make us pay.
Europe is still on â we need to get the points and make it as close as possible.
I think Brobbey gets us in front, they equalise to make us squirm as per usual, then we nick a late winner and limp gratefully to the final whistle.
Matty Foster predictsâŠ
Score prediction: Wolves 0 Sunderland 1
Sunderlandâs first goalscorer: Brian Brobbey
Wolves represents a glorious chance to redeem ourselves, and prove that we do still have fight in us to finish as highly as possible. The Forest game was shockingly bad, but it felt like more of an anomaly than huge cause for concern.
With relegation confirmed, Wolves have nothing to play for, save for their pride. Nevertheless, before losing three on the bounce without scoring, they earned decent results against sides in the top half.
We need a response and we need to shore up the leaky defence. 0-1 will suit me down to the ground, and will keep us in the hunt for a top ten finish.
Finally we can put last Friday night to bed and move on with another game â as long as we donât repeat any of it.
The Lads teased us with the potential of Europe, only to head off on their own holidays early, and I donât even know what to expect from us. I assumed weâd tighten up after Aston Villa but it was far worse against Forest.
And even though Wolves are already relegated, they donât always seem as terrible as their seventeen points suggest. They had a couple of good results at home this year, beating Liverpool and taking a point off Arsenal, but theyâre coming off the back of three bad defeats against teams in the relegation battle.
Iâd love us to come out all guns blazing and take it out on Wolves, but thatâs just not really our style. Iâm unsure as to how motivated we are for the final games but becoming compact and finding some level of intensity would be enough to take at least a point after back-to-back defeats.
Last Fridayâs game against Forest is best forgotten about.
We were four down inside half an hour to end it without it being a massacre was the only saving grace. Everyone was crap, including the referee and the lads in the VAR bus, who ruled our a perfectly good goal that mightâve turned the tide had it been allowed.
Today, we face another team at the bottom end and the concern flips between âWill they play well without any relevance to the result?â and âCan we rebound from two losses and nine goals conceded in the last two games?â.
Hopefully we prevail and keep our season alive, despite theirs being over.
Last game predictionsâŠ
We all got very carried away after Aston VillaâŠand got it very wrong.
Not a point in sight, a bit like how we played Forest.
Predictions table and standings
No change in the overall table, as no points were scored and there was no yellow card malarkey, either.
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.
