This week’s column comes from Gareth Barker.

IN SPITE of a well-earned victory over Southampton on Saturday, Sunderland are still favourites for the drop.

Firstly, the fixtures look unkind. Three away trips out of the last four, facing four teams in the top five of the form table. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s not impossible. Pundits are still tipping us for the drop, but some of the lines are a bit contradictory.

There’s a suggestion that we don’t look like picking up points. In fact, we’ve taken seven from our last four games. It really should have been nine given the chances we created down at Stoke. There were three clear cut opportunities to convert that result into a win. Then again, against Southampton, we created opportunities.

You can read the rest here.