Roker Riches: Tips For The Swansea Trip

Adnan Januzaj's two goals gave Man Utd a come from behind win at the Stadium of Light the weekend before last, which meant Roker Report overlord Simon Walsh's prediction of a 2-1 away win came true, netting him a tidy profit in the process. Despite how well he's doing though, Simon is still someway behind Wise Men Say host and former Drum 'n' Bass pioneer Stephen 'Goldie' Goldsmith, who is close to breaking the £100 barrier already. Along with Dave and myself, Stephen made some money on a 'Both teams to score and Man Utd to win' bet.

Now onto this week's predictions:

Simon Walsh

Sunderland are long odds for the game against Swansea, with the bookies seeming to suggest that Gus Poyet will have little to no impact. I'm betting very much against that and I think he can inspire us to at least a draw in against a team which even at our worst hasn't posed us much problems.

Elsewhere, I'm looking at an accumulator on MK Dons, Leyton Orient and Hartlepool all to win.

• Sunderland to draw with Swansea - 11/4 - £4 Stake
• MK Dons, Leyton Orient and Hartlepool all to win - 8/1 - £6 Stake

Luke Bowley

It's difficult to know what to expect from Gus Poyet's first game in charge. We could go straight into the slow, possession based game the Uruguyan favoured at Brighton, but that would probably be mental, so I'd imagine we'll see something not too different from the high tempo style played in the games under Kevin Ball.  Unlike many Sunderland fans, I'm not confident we'll get a result from this one, but we came out of the blocks very quickly against Man Utd, so maybe we'll do that again and get the first goal.

Elsewhere, Leyton Orient let me down last time, but they travel to bottom club Tranmere this week, and are at quite long odds to win considering, so I'll go with them again.

• Sunderland to score first - 11/5 - £3 stake
• Leyton Orient to beat Tranmere - 20/19 - £10 stake

David Boyle

So, here we go again, another new dawn on Wearside as Gus Poyet gears up for his first game at the helm of the good ship Sunderland. With a new manager, more often than not, comes a sharp upturn in results, a honeymoon period if you will. Sunderland have also shown some promise in the previous two outings under the stewardship of Kevin Ball so there is reason to hope this can be the weekend when the club finally add a "W" to their results column.

Swansea will certainly be no pushover, which is why I quite fancy the safety net of the draw no bet market which will see my stake returned if the spoils are shared on Saturday afternoon.

Elsewhere I quite fancy the look of Valencia in the Spanish Primera Division who are in decent form of late, winning three of their last four and drawing the other. Miroslav Dukic's men take on an indifferent Real Sociedad who are yet to win a game since the opening day of the season.

• Sunderland to win, draw no bet - 16/5 - £2.00 Stake
• Valencia vs Real Sociedad - Valencia to win - 4/5 - £4.97 Stake

Stephen Goldsmith

I had two bets on the England game midweek and both were successful. I'm starting to wonder why I've never really been much of a betting man, I do get paid if I win this at the end of the season, right?

Maybe with Steven Fletcher approaching full fitness and therefore likely to challenge for the one available striker role, Jozy Altidore will find that extra spark he needs to halt his game from being crippled with anxiety. It's palpable how much he longs for that Premier League goal and I suppose his (and our) one saving grace is that he's still finding the net at international level. His play deserves more and I have rarely, if ever, wanted a player to score an important goal for us. He'll score on Saturday.. He will.

Meanwhile I see West Brom have fairly long odds to win at Stoke due to some sort of hold that the hosts have over them. Like us with Everton last season, these things always come to an end.

• Jozy Altidore to score anytime. £5 stake
• West Brom to win at Stoke 28/11 -  £5 stake

Craig Clark

We come up against a side in poor form at home in the league - although in fairness, its been tough opposition for Swansea at the Liberty so far - which should mean our usual curse strikes and we hand the opposition 3 points and a much needed lift...or maybe not this time. The arrival of Poyet changes things and I'm hopeful of at least a point.

Elsewhere, I'm going to back Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal to win.

• Sunderland to draw or win - 7/5 - £10 stake
• Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal to win - 135/100 - £5 stake