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Alan Brazil predicts who’ll win out of Sunderland and Newcastle in FA Cup
On Saturday, Sunderland host Newcastle United in one of the most exciting ties of the third round of the FA Cup.
One of the biggest and fiercest rivalries in the country, the Black Cats will ‘welcome’ the Magpies to the Stadium of Light for a 12:45pm kickoff.
TalkSPORT cult hero Alan Brazil, speaking in a video shared on Ray Parlour’s account, has shared his prediction for the highly-anticipated encounter on Wearside.
The broadcaster, speaking to the Arsenal legend, believes Newcastle “should have too much” for Sunderland despite being under pressure at present.
Brazil also says he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s “very close”, but nonetheless reckons a strong Newcastle side should be able to get the better of their bitter rivals.
“I think Newcastle are under pressure but they should have too much for Sunderland,” he said.
“But the big controversy with the Newcastle fans, they have been looked after too well by Sunderland, so somebody has cocked up there.
“It’s a ding-dong derby this one, it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s very close but Newcastle should have enough.
“I don’t think Newcastle can afford to rest many players, Man City coming up, then Villa way, they need a result so don’t expect too many changes.”
Air of excitement around Sunderland and Newcastle in the short term and the long term
Sunderland and Newcastle contested the Tyne-Wear derby quite regularly in the past, but this will be the first encounter between the two since 2016.
Both the Black Cats and the Magpies have experienced some hardships since then. Sunderland just stayed up that year, while Newcastle dropped into the Championship.
The Black Cats and the Magpies then swapped places a year later as the former finished bottom of the top flight and the latter went up as champions.
Sunderland actually ended up falling into the third tier the following season, and endured several years in League One before being promoted back into the Championship in 2022.
Meanwhile, Newcastle underwent several more years of mediocrity after returning to the Premier League.
Then, in 2021, a Saudi-led consortium ended Mike Ashley’s 14-year ownership of the Tyneside club and gave the Toon Army the opportunity to dream again.
Things have changed a lot since the 1-1 draw between Newcastle and Sunderland back in 2016.
Back then, both were struggling. Now, the Magpies is hoping to disrupt the Premier League’s top six once again and the Black Cats is in the Championship playoff players.