Racing Stars Must Step Up Quickly to Prevent Slippery Slope!

Granit Xhaka of Sunderland AFC celebrates Dan Ballard's goal during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Arsenal at the Stadium Of Light in Sunderland, England, on November 8, 2025. (Photo by Scott Llewellyn/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images Gav says… It’s a really difficult position that we’re in right now, because the outcome of Sunday’s game may well ultimately decide where we go from here. As things stand, we are currently just three points behind Everton in 8th and four behind Brentford in seventh, which are probably the positions you want to be in come the end of the season if you’re going to qualify for European football.

Unfortunately for us, there are eight teams all vying for the same spots, so whilst it’s certainly an achievable target, we’re going to need to win a bunch of games to ensure that we’re still in the conversation right until the bitter end. All the teams around us are taking points off one another – including Brighton beating us on Saturday, which has put them equal on points and now above us – and with the mags coming up this weekend, that’s our big chance to put things right and also take some points off another side around us in the table. It’s a weird spot to be in though because had you told me last summer that with eight games remaining we’d be on forty points and vying for a place in Europe I’d have laughed my arse off, yet as we sit here right now there’s not a great feeling about the place and it certainly doesn’t reflect the unbelievable season that we’ve had.

Yet, that can all change on the back of one really good performance and result, and beating Newcastle on Sunday would kick-start our campaign and surely have us pointing back in the right direction. It seems that to be successful, Sunderland need a common goal to unite behind. On Sunday that should be going to their place and not losing… and, better still, beating them.

After that, and after the international break, it should be fighting tooth and nail to be in one of those top eight spots by the time we get to May. Ignore the lingering doubt – Sunderland are in a brilliant position, and we could well still go on to achieve greatness this season. We already have, but a strong end to the campaign would be the cherry on the top of the cake, and wouldn’t it be brilliant if the start of that run began at St James’ Park?