Analysing the Premier League relegation battle at the halfway stage

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19th – Sunderland – 15 points

Despite being four points away from 17th placed Swansea you’d be a fool to bet against Sunderland staying up. They’ve pulled off great escapes in each of the last 3 seasons under Di Canio, Poyet and Advocaat and in Sam Allardyce they have one of the most experienced managers in the business. And let’s not forget, he’s never been relegated from the top flight.

January is a big month for Sunderland and Allardyce will be hoping to right some of the recruitment wrongs up on Wearside.

Simply put, the incoming players haven’t been good enough for a number of seasons. Sebastian Coates is no more a Premier League footballer than he was the day he signed for Liverpool, Jermaine Lens scored a wonder goal at some point a few months ago and hasn’t done a lot since… there are plenty of others. Going forward there is hope though. Sunderland are stronger than many others down at the wrong end of the table; Defoe is the best striker in the bottom 6, Duncan Watmore is a hard-running pest with an eye for goal, Borini is much the same and Steven Fletcher is a decent target man. It’s at the other end of the pitch that things aren’t so rosy for Sunderland. The Black Cats are in dire need of defensive reinforcements and Allardyce has moved quickly with the £1m acquisition of Jan Kirchhoff. Given Jack Rodwell’s latest injury another centre midfielder is desperately needed too. Sunderland are likely to be the busiest of the bottom 6 this January as Allardyce hopes for another of those late season survival acts they’ve perfected in recent years.