BETTING: Newcastle United backed to do the double over The Bees

The Magpies cruised past the Bees when the pair met at St James’s Park in October, emerging as 3-1 winners.

Bookies expect them to complete a league double over the west London club, Unibet installing them as their even money favourites to take three points.

United may have won only one of their last four matches, but at 2/1 (Winner.com) to lead at the end of both halves, they’ve attracted steady support.

If Newcastle score first (4/6, Coral), the likelihood is they can capture maximum points.

They’re an attractive 9/1 (Marathonbet) to record a 2-0 victory and 8/1 (Skybet) to register a 2-1 win.

morrow’s duel at the Stadium of Light between Sunderland and Stoke City has a tentative ‘away win’ moniker applied to it by bookies.

The Black Cats may enjoy home advantage, but Skybet price Mark Hughes’s men at 8/5 to secure maximum points.

Yet Sunderland have taken more points (13) from their last 10 league matches than Stoke (12) and it’s a surprise to see William Hill price them as long as 21/10 to win, although few punters are anticipating a walkover for the either side.

Instead, most backers expect both teams to be defensively tight, an approach which complements the appeal of 888sport’s 12/5 odds posted about the draw and BetVictor’s 11/2 for both halves to end on level terms.

It’s worth noting that four of the pair’s last nine duels have ended all-square.

In other markets, Unibet’s 5/6 for the match to yield fewer than 2.5 goals looks decent value, while the 14/5 Ladbrokes offer for Sunderland to retain a clean sheet has, according to the match stats team at bettingexpert.com, proved popular.

Paddy Power rate the chances of the home side securing maximum points without conceding to be a 7/2 shot and 188bet post 10/3 in favour of them enjoying a one goal margin of victory.