Ahead of the season kicking off, I fancied Sunderland to be relegated.
Yes, I know what you are saying, as a Newcastle United fan I would be wanting that to happen.
Well of course that is the case but also I think that when taking a neutral stance and looking at it objectively, it still stacked up.
I was reading on The Mag on Saturday that Stuart Pearce is also predicting the Mackems to go down, so I am in canny company.
My thinking ahead of this season was that they clearly weren’t anything special last season and fluked seventh, things were so tight for most clubs in the Premier League and if Sunderland had lost their final game of 2025/26 they would have finished in the bottom half of the table!
The times when I watched them they were poor, even in the two derby matches. They fluked the first derby win without a single serious effort of their own on goal, then Newcastle should have had the home derby wrapped up but were knackered as the game went on after the midweek Champions League knockout in Barcelona and with numerous injuries as well. Newcastle United were poor last season in the league but would still have finished above Sunderland if they had won either of the derbies or drawn both.
Apart from the bottom two clubs last season, Sunderland (42) only scored more goals than Palace (41) in 38 EPL matches. The Mackems finished seventh last season but had a -6 goal difference!
I touched briefly on Europe massively impacting Newcastle United’s league form last season and whilst the Europa League is many levels down from the Champions League, Sunderland still have to deal with loads of those extra games.
I totally understand Sunderland fans getting excited about European football, so would I if had never seen any in my entire time supporting Newcastle United!!!
However, I think it is a huge poisoned chalice for them and it was always going to create huge problems this season for their league form.
The Mackems haven’t got a big squad and spent very little in the summer.
Sunderland have only managed a single Premier League win so far and that was a lucky 1-0 against rock bottom Fulham. They have lost all of their last three EPL matches and conceded nine goals in them.
They are only one point above the relegation zone and this is at a time when they have only had one European midweek match so far. Now they are moving into a period when they will be playing every midweek for some time.
The Europa League is so weak these days because of the expanded Champions League and no longer the third placed team in the four team UCL groups dropping into the Europa League. So just like other clubs that finished at the bottom end of the Premier League whilst still progressing far in the Europa League, such as Spurs, Forest and Man U, I think the Mackems will get out of the group stage BUT that will simply exacerbate their Premier League problems as they continue with more midweek commitments.
They already have injuries to the likes of Mr Blobby and with a small squad and the same key players having to play so many matches, it is inevitable they will pick up many more injuries as the season progresses.
With seemingly no real dud teams in the Premier League this season, I see Sunderland in real danger of returning to where they belong next May.
Still, at least some of their fans will have been able to use their first ever passports!