Can Sunderland make a nonsense of the somewhat contrasting league positions and return to winning form?
No one who saw our performance at Swansea, whether at the Liberty Stadium or watching abroad or on dodgy streams, would give us the slightest chance of ending Chelsea’s run of nine straight wins.
Roll up for another prize (see below) Guess the Score, Swansea City versus Sunderland …
Had we lost at Bournemouth, drawn against Hull and failed to beat Leicester, the visit to Swansea would have had “must win” written all over it.
But we didn’t. We won all three and there was even a smidgeon of honour in defeat at Anfield.
See these (above) and other Art of Football prints by clicking anywhere on this caption
Two good wins followed by a logical defeat at Anfield after we’d held out well for 75 minutes and even had two good chances to go ahead.
The positive way to look at our last three games is not to think in terms of two-steps-forward-one-back but to see each of them offering signs that we can break free of the bottom three.
Thanks to Jermain Defoe, Victor Anichebe, Jordan Pickford and our temporary Guess the Score sponsors Art of Football – see their outstanding range of SAFC items at http://art-of-football.com/collections/sunderland and navigate from there for non-Sunderland art – we have a very satisfied winner.
Phil Davison, a Mackem exiled in Mexico, plumped for a 3-0 home win mainly because so many scorelines had been taken by other entrants. Watching the opening stages on Saturday, live out west, he wondered whether he might have taken leave of his senses, as Hull dominated the game and had the better chances.
This week’s Guess the Score is attracting plenty of entries, which is hardly surprising given
the importance of Saturday’s home game against Hull City. Bottom versus third-bottom is not the stuff of dreams for supporters of the brands – Man Utd/City/Chelsea/Arsenal etc – but it’s got the look of our Cup Final, or maybe the first of several.
There is, perhaps, another reason for the rush of interest: the quality of this week’s prize for whoever is first to predict the correct score.
Guess the Score has never been earlier. But then, there have not been many games as season-defining as Sunderland versus Hull City on Saturday.
Yes, I know we have said that kind of thing before, quite a lot over recent seasons, but this really is a vital test of whether our 2-1 win at Bournemouth was just a momentary, skin-of-the-teeth distraction from a Villa-style descent to the Championship – or the catalyst for instant revival.
Monsieur Salut digs deep yet again – and promises to keep up the selective double-prize offer until Sunderland finally win a Premier League game …
Honest, I swear I kept a straight face while writing that headline.
No, I am not any more confident than the next sufferer. But Sunderland have to win some time – a Newcastle United fan reminds me that when Derby went down with 11 points, their solitary victory was 1-0 versus the Mags – and Saturday, before my own eyes, wold be a great place for it to happen.
So I will maintain the discriminatory approach to the prize: until Sunderland finally win, the winner of Guess the Score, ie the first to predict the eventual scoreline, will qualify for not one but two mugs if opting for a SAFC victory.
Monsieur Salut briefly forgets how poor he feels just now and digs ever deeper in a desperate attempt to inspire a Sunderland win …
What could possibly be better than winning a prize mug from Salut! Sunderland? Right first time: two prize mugs. And what could possibly be a safer bet than to offer any prize at all that depends on a Sunderland win? Answers on a postcard to Mr D Moyes c/o the Stadium of Light, Millennium Way, Sunderland, SR5 1SU.
Most of our loyal army of optimists went for a Sunderland win at Southampton. No one correctly predicted a 1-0 defeat.
Would you settle for a Sunderland defeat at Southampton on Wednesday, ending our interest in the EFL Cup, and a home win on Saturday? Me too, if your answer was yes.
Of course, wins in both games would be even better. But whereas beating the Saints would be nice enough, and stir dreams of a return to Wembley at the end of February, we are desperate for another kind of victory: the sort that brings three points and gives us hope that all may not after all be lost.
Monsieur Salut introduces another prize Guess the Score before embarking on a long trek through France, stopping for some disgusting but delicious andouillettes in Troyes on the way and arriving back in the UK on Wednesday night, ready for anything life throws at him (including tickets for Arsenal at home and Bournemouth away) …