Black Cats and Rovers are top draw; 3pm Betting Boys.

Byline: KEVIN PRICE; JOHN CURLE

SUNDERLAND v BLACKBURN

WE like the look of Sunderland this season .. but they could have their hands full with Blackburn today.

The Black Cats under Steve Bruce have the stamp of a team on the up.

Their opening-day victory at Bolton gave us the first glimpse of the new Sunderland with a decent looking strike force in Kenwyne Jones and close-season signing Darren Bent.

We feel a bit sorry for Bent. He never really stood a chance at Spurs after moving to White Hart Lane from Charlton for pounds 16.5million in June 2007.

Everybody, and we mean everybody, thought that was far too much money for a player of Bent''s quality.

He''s a good striker but pounds 16.5million!! No way.

Quite what Martin Jol was thinking is anybody's guess. But clearly it wasn't clearly!

That huge price tag left Bent on a hiding to nothing at Tottenham and once Harry Redknapp took charge it was certain that Bent would move on. Harry's disgraceful baiting of the player with his now famous 'wife' jibe effectively ended Bent's Spurs career.

The move to Sunderland is welcome relief with a much more realistic pounds 10million price tag this time - although still a bit much in our not-so-humble opinion.

Saying that, Bent has actually scored four goals in his last five Premier League appearances, including Sunderland's winner at Bolton (a brilliant header at the far post) and the opener in the 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea on Tuesday. Sunderland were shot down by Chelsea in the second half but played well and there is sure to be a great feeling of optimism in the Stadium of Light before kick off this afternoon.

Blackburn, too, will reckon they have a decent chance. Their 2-0 home loss to the Manchester City All Stars last week was hardly unexpected and they certainly had their moments during that game.

Although they lost Roque Santa Cruz and Andre Ooijer in the transfer window, Sam Allardyce (left) still has a fairly decent squad and history dictates that they will do well here.

Rovers have lost just one of their last eight Premier League clashes with the Black Cats.

Allardyce has pulled off an interesting signing by taking Michel Salgado on a free transfer after the right back's contract was cancelled by Real Madrid. He won't be available for this game and it is unlikely Croatian new-boy Nikola Kalinic will be risked either. So it will probably be Jason Roberts and Benni McCarthy up front.

They will cause the Sunderland defence a few problems while Bent and Jones are sure to pose a big threat at the other end.

We can't split these sides and think a draw the most likely result. It''s top-priced 12/5 with Boylesports.

Price watch

PREMIER LEAGUE GOLDEN BOOT: 11/4 Torres, 11/2 Drogba , 8 Defoe, 9 Rooney, 14 Anelka, Gerrard, Owen, 16 Van Persie, Bent (Hills)

TO WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE: 6/4 Chelsea, 10/3 Man U, 4 Liverpool, 11/2 Arsenal, 10 Man City, 40 Spurs (Hills)

PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH WITH MOST GOALS

Arsenal v Portsmouth......9/2

Man City v Wolves ............5/1

West Ham v Spurs............11/2

Liverpool v Villa ..............13/2

Wigan v Man Utd ............8/1

Fulham v Chelsea ..............8/1

Sund'land v Blackb'n ......10/1

Hull v Bolton ....................10/1

Burnley v Everton ............10/1

Birmingham v Stoke ........12/1

(Hills)

TO WIN THE EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX: 5/2 Hamilton, 4/1 Vettel, 4/1 Button, 11/2 Webber, 7/1 Alonso, 10/1 Barrichello, 16/1 Raikkonen, 20/1 Kovalainen, 25/1 Rosberg, 50/1 Bar (Hills).

TO WIN THE COCA-COLA CHAMPIONSHIP: 9/2 West Brom, 5Middlesbrough, Newcastle, 8 Sheff Utd, 8 Cardiff, 16 Ipswich, Leicester, 20/1 Reading, Bristol City, 22 Preston, 28 QPR, Nottingham Forest, 33/1 Derby, 40/1 bar (Hills).

CAPTION(S):

BENT DOUBLE Darren Bent (centre) celebrates the second of his two Sunderland goals