Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
While not mathematically impossible for Sunderland to stay up the outlook is certainly looking even more bleak for David Moyes. His group of players find themselves 10 points from safety and when you consider that they have only registered 20 all season things are looking less than promising.
If we take into account the fact that a club needs 40 points, it has taken Sunderland 28 games to reach their current points tally. Therefore they were left with 10 games to earn 20 points, well they’ve already lost their first two and if this great escape is to ever start then Today has to be the time.
And today Sunderland boss Moyes faces one of his former employers as Manchester United travel to The Stadium of Light. The Black Cats have failed to win any of their last six matches and have picked up just a solitary point for their efforts during that time.
That point came at home to Burnley three weeks ago. It was a nil-nil stalemate and the kind of game that had it been first goals wins then they would have still been playing now in search for a winner. It may have been a point on the board but really it did not do Sunderland too many favours.
The past week has not proved much better for Sunderland as they have fallen to defeats to both Watford and Leicester on the road, the only hope that Sunderland fans will have is that their team can raise their game for the visit of Jose Mourinho’s men this afternoon.
It may be unlikely but the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City will be hoping that Sunderland can do them a huge favour and take points off of United. If that somehow does prove to be the case then it may well mean that United no longer go in search of a top four place at the end of the season.
Their hopes of finishing in the direct Champions League places would have certainly not been helped by the fact that they had to salvage a draw at home to Everton on Tuesday night. Salvage being the optimum word there as Zlatan Ibrahimovic was once again the saviour.
It was his 94th minute penalty which meant that United did not at least come away empty handed but after the end of the gameweek they once again slipped down to 6th in the table with Arsenal leapfrogging them due to their win over West Ham the following evening.
United do play before Arsenal in this gameweek what with The Gunners playing tomorrow night at Crystal Palace so the opportunity is there to move back into fifth but should they fail to get maximum points then you get the feeling that this will be the point in which Jose Mourinho exits his side from the race for the top four.
At that point the focus will then shift solely to the Europa League in a bid to once again return to European football’s top club competition. It may well be to the sacrifice of a league placing which more than likely means a 6th place finish but as they are favourites to win the Europa League then you can hardly blame him for the decision.
It’s a very handy plan b but ultimately Mourinho would like to qualify through the league placings and the best way to do that is to bounce back from two straight draws with a win on Wearside. Anything less than a win and the top four dream is all but dead.
Can Sunderland pull off a miracle though, you can understand why clubs raise the game when the big outfits come to town but I don’t know where the extra quality is in this side in which to do so. Therefore I think United will win and keep their chances of a top four finish alive for at least another week.
