Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Sunderland have hit their stride at just the right time and with 4 points from their last 2 matches they now find themselves out of the bottom 3. They will look to try and stay the right side of the dotted line this Afternoon with a visit to The Britannia Stadium on the agenda.
They go up against a Stoke side whose terrible run of form as of late has seen their season fizzle out with the best thing they can hope for now is a top 10 finish and hope they can at least stay in the 10th place that they find themselves right now.
The main reason their season has fallen apart has undoubtedly been the injury to Jack Butland, it’s no coincidence that Stoke have shipped in 14 goals since his absence and more worryingly it’s come in just 4 matches. Even more worryingly is that they have conceded 4 in each of their last three matches.
They were easily beaten at The Etihad last Saturday lunchtime by Manchester City as Mark Hughes had an unhappy return to his old stomping ground. They were second best to pretty much everything last Weekend and Sunderland may well feel there is an opportunity for all 3 points here.
With Stoke having nothing to play for bar salvaging a bit of pride, Sunderland know that anything less than a win will be a disappointing result especially if Newcastle and Norwich both manage to get better results Today. A win for Sunderland and it piles more pressure on their two nearest rivals.
Last time out they battled for everything in a 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal. A vital point and the point which saw them move out of the bottom three. That’s now 4 points from their last two matches and more importantly just one defeat in their last seven. Is Sam Allardyce working his magic again?
I have more than a sneaky feeling that Sunderland will win this one as their bid for survival takes on extra momentum. It certainly will do if they can pull off victory, Stoke are done for this season they just want to get to the final day and wrap things up. It’s crying out for an away win this Afternoon.
Papa Johns – If your team scores twice then it’s half price
