11 Tottenham Hotspur 27 8 8 11 49 45 4 32
12 Middlesbrough 28 7 8 13 25 42 -17 29
13 Reading 29 8 4 17 34 55 -21 28
14 Newcastle United 29 7 7 15 30 56 -26 28
15 Wigan Athletic 28 7 6 15 26 42 -16 27
16 Sunderland 28 7 6 15 26 46 -20 27
17 Birmingham City 28 6 8 14 31 41 -10 26
18 Bolton Wanderers 28 6 7 15 28 42 -14 25
19 Fulham 29 3 11 15 26 49 -23 20
20 Derby County 28 1 7 20 13 57 -44 10
Forget FA Cup semi-finals, promotion clinchers, the game that decides whether you will finish first or second. Could a Sunderland team honestly hope for any greater incentive to avoid defeat in tomorrow’s game against Everton than the mathematical implications of the way the bottom part of the Premiership table shapes up tonight?
Win and we sail up towards the top of this mini-league of teams facing the drop. Draw and we at least move up to 28 points. 28 points! The same number as Newcastle.
And then look at the goal differences. You cannot draw 0-6. So we go above the Mags whatever, home defeat excepted, we end up doing at the Stadium of Light. Pushing them into a relegation place, much as that would please me on the last day of the season, could come about only if other bottom six teams did well in the coming days, and I certainly do not want that.
Over to you, Lads. Don’t make me rue ever writing these few words………
Things are certainly hotting up at the bottom of the Prem. Obviously Derby are going down and except for a miracle I think it is likely Fulham will too. But who will fill that 3rd slot?
I’m not a Sunderland fan particularly but I do think there are signs of something interesting going on under Roy Keene. I would be more surprised than not if they ended up getting relegated
Things are certainly hotting up at the bottom of the Prem. Obviously Derby are going down and except for a miracle I think it is likely Fulham will too. But who will fill that 3rd slot?
I’m not a Sunderland fan particularly but I do think there are signs of something interesting going on under Roy Keene. I would be more surprised than not if they ended up getting relegated