{"id":5345,"date":"2026-05-07T11:15:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=5345"},"modified":"2026-05-07T11:15:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:15:54","slug":"sunderland-vs-manchester-united-three-storylines-to-ponder-man-united-news-and-transfer-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=5345","title":{"rendered":"Sunderland vs Manchester United: Three storylines to ponder &#8211; Man United News And Transfer News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"penci-post-entry-inner\">\n<p>\t\t\t<i class=\"penci-post-countview-number-check\" style=\"display:none\">15<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Manchester United will travel to Sunderland this Saturday knowing that Champions League football is secured for next season.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Devils have faced the Black Cats 146 times, with United coming out on top on 66 occasions.<\/p>\n<p>There have been 38 draws and 42 wins for Sunderland during that period.<\/p>\n<p>Here are three storylines to get the blood racing ahead of the match.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"tablepress-1328-name\" class=\"tablepress-table-name tablepress-table-name-id-1328\">Man United record vs Sunderland<\/h2>\n<table id=\"tablepress-1328\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-1328\" aria-labelledby=\"tablepress-1328-name\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n<th class=\"column-1\">Games played<\/th>\n<th class=\"column-2\">Man United wins<\/th>\n<th class=\"column-3\">Draws<\/th>\n<th class=\"column-4\">Sunderland wins<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n<td class=\"column-1\">146<\/td>\n<td class=\"column-2\">66<\/td>\n<td class=\"column-3\">38<\/td>\n<td class=\"column-4\">42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- #tablepress-1328 from cache --><\/p>\n<p>Source: 11v11.com<\/p>\n<h3>United could clinch third<\/h3>\n<p>Last week\u2019s pulsating 3-2 victory over Liverpool ensured that the Champions League anthem would once again be heard at Old Trafford next season.<\/p>\n<p>United now hold a six-point advantage over both Liverpool and Aston Villa in the race for third place.<\/p>\n<p>A win or even a draw could guarantee third spot if Villa or Liverpool lose their matches against Burnley or Chelsea this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Even if their rivals win all their remaining fixtures, three points may still be enough for United because of goal difference, and four points certainly would be.<\/p>\n<h3>Fantastic recent record vs Sunderland<\/h3>\n<p>United have certainly enjoyed playing Sunderland over the years.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Devils came out on top 2-0 in October, with Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko grabbing the goals.<\/p>\n<p>Sunderland have only managed three wins in their last 33 games against the Red Devils, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>Their 24 defeats against United in the Premier League is the most against any opponent.<\/p>\n<p>This is also true at the Stadium of Light, where United have only lost one of their previous 15 visits\u2014a 1-2 loss in February 2016.<\/p>\n<h3>Importance of first goal<\/h3>\n<p>Getting off the mark first is usually vital in football, and it has proven to be for both teams this season.<\/p>\n<p>The Black Cats are one of three teams who are unbeaten this season when scoring first. They have seven victories and five draws from this scenario.<\/p>\n<p>Nottingham Forest have won eight and lost two when scoring first, and United are the other unbeaten team.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Devils have 15 wins and seven draws after getting on the scoreboard first this season.<br \/><em>Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>The Peoples Person has been one of the world\u2019s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 2 --><\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>15 Manchester United will travel to Sunderland this Saturday knowing that Champions League football is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}