Date: 28th April 2016 at 8:48am
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If we’d have hung on against Crystal Palace, Southampton and Newcastle, I could have watched the Newcastle vs Man City game without being bothered about the outcome, but that’s not the way Sunderland like to do it. It’s all a bit too tight now and literally anything can happen.

But who’s going to stay up? Sunderland have arguably been playing the better football out of the three battling it out to stay in the Premier League but just haven’t been able to see out a game. Until we put three past Norwich away from home in a must-win game. It really was imperative we won that game as well as we would have been too far adrift of the Canaries and with Newcastle winning, we would have been in a dismal situation.

In my eyes it most definitely could go down to the last game of the season, especially with Sunderland drawing against Arsenal and Newcastle picking up a point at Liverpool last time out. Next up is a tough game away to Stoke, however it is very much a winnable game. This is followed by two home games that could be crucial. Chelsea are first up at the Stadium of Light and with the Blues having nothing to play for, the lads in red and white could snatch something, but the big one is the following Tuesday against Everton. The Toffees have been poor this season and although it seems wrong to criticise a team for underperforming as a Sunderland fan but anyway, the Black Cats should have enough to get the three points, I hope.

16 January 2016 Premier League Football - Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland :Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce.Photo: Mark Leech

Sam Allardyce has seen his Sunderland side draw five of their last seven Premier League matches. Photo: Mark Leech/Offside

This leaves the final game away to Watford which is again against a team that has nothing to play for. Now, I sincerely hope that we are safe by then but if not, it will be one great battle to end the season and hopefully the sold out away end can come back having remained in the Premier League.

Norwich have arguably the worst run-in of the three and with their confidence seeming pretty low, I feel they’ll be the first to go. Newcastle however appear to have the easier run-in and their confidence is high after picking up five points in their last three games. You would think that they might not pick up anything against Tottenham but they do also have a home game against Crystal Palace and an away game to already-relegated Villa, so one would assume they may pick up at least six points, leaving them on 36 points. This means Sunderland would need just two wins to stay up.

With all that being said, literally anything could happen. Who would have expected Newcastle to feel aggrieved to just pick up the one point against Man City?

It really is going to be a nerve-wracking conclusion to the campaign and I just hope the lads can keep their cool and keep putting in performances and getting results. One thing that stands on our side is the fact we’ve managed to get out of this kind of mess for the past few seasons. I for one won’t be able to watch if it does go to the last game of the season.

 
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