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Bottom two sides Coventry and Sunderland meet on Saturday (15:00 GMT) both looking to climb away from the danger zone.

Coventry scored 97 goals in last season's Championship, which was at least 15 more than any other team, but they've struggled for goals since coming up to the top flight.

They have scored a joint-division-low six goals and have failed to score in five of their eight Premier League games so far this season, more than any other team. Four of those six goals came in one match (their 4-1 win over Newcastle)

The Sky Blues also have the lowest xG (7.65) and the lowest open play xG so far in this campaign (4.78), with just 25 shots on target, the second-worst in the division after Aston Villa.

Their xG in last weekend's draw at home to fellow strugglers Fulham was 0.51, which was their lowest since their opening game of the season, which was away at champions Arsenal.

Coventry are the only team in the Premier League this season to neither win any points from losing positions nor drop any points when leading – in their eight matches, the team scoring first has won every time.

That's further bad news for Sky Blues fans, whose team have failed to score in the first half in seven of their eight league games this season.

Like Coventry, Sunderland have scored a joint-division low of six goals in this season's Premier League.

At the same stage in 2025-26, the Black Cats had only scored three more times, but the crucial difference is that they had 14 points, as opposed to the five they have earned in 2026-27. It's the biggest drop-off after eight games of any Premier League team.

Head coach Regis Le Bris has talked of "embracing" Sunderland's busy schedule of playing in Europe and in the Carabao Cup but their Premier League form does appear to be paying the price.

The Black Cats earned four points in their first three league games of the season, all of which preceded the start of their EFL Cup and Europa League campaigns. Since those began, they have picked up just one point, losing four out of five games.

Conversely, they have won four out of their five games in the cup competitions, reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday with their 3-2 victory over Brentford. That means they will have another midweek fixture to add to what looks like being a busy pre-Christmas period for Le Bris's side.

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