Regis Le Bris is on track to surpass Peter Reid’s achievement with legendary Sunderland side

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Sunderland’s astounding start to the season has put them on course for a historic campaign in the Premier League that even Peter Reid would be proud of.

Nobody gave the Black Cats a chance coming into this season. Even supercomputers predicted Sunderland would finish rock bottom and go straight back to the Championship.

However, with five wins from the opening nine games, Sunderland are soaring in fourth place right now and have been one of the most impressive and exciting teams to watch this term.

There is still a long way to go, of course, but many now believe Sunderland will not only stay up, but achieve a decent placing in the final Premier League table.

• READ MORE: David Moyes’ Sunderland prediction in 2017 finally came true, it just took much longer than expected

Sunderland can achieve best-ever finish in Premier League

In fact, Sunderland have started the season so strongly that this current side under Regis Le Bris could end up surpassing the incredible achievement of Peter Reid’s famous team of the late 1990s.

It’s a short sample size, but Sunderland have won an average of 1.88 points per game (PPG) at the moment. If we extrapolate that over a 38-game season, the Black Cats could end up with 71 points (or 71.77 points, to be more precise).

Not only would that make Sunderland the most successful newly-promoted team of all time, far exceeding Ipswich Town’s 66-point haul of 2000/01, it would also give the current Black Cats side a great chance of landing the club’s best-ever Premier League finish.

The Sunderland team of 1999/00 came up from the old Division One and racked up 58 points to secure a seventh place finish in the top flight.

Interestingly, 71 points would have been enough to finish third last season (alongside Man City) and would have bagged fourth place in 2023/24.

So, if Sunderland can keep up their momentum and their PPG rate, we could see the Mackems in the Champions League next year.

• READ MORE: Regis Le Bris to be backed in January as Sunderland have one key position ‘on their radar’

Remembering Sunderland’s iconic 1999/00 team

That brilliant Sunderland team of 1999/00 picked up right where it left off in the second tier the year before. The Black Cats had broken the record for the highest points tally at the time, with 105 points in the title-winning season.

Upon entering the Premier League, Sunderland were driven on by the unbelievable goalscoring record of Kevin Phillips. The former England international bagged 30 goals in the Premier League and won the European Golden Shoe. His strike partner, Sunderland legend Niall Quinn, also chipped in with 14 goals and seven assists.

Peter Reid’s team picked up great wins away at fierce rivals Newcastle United, at home to Tottenham Hotspur, and hammered Chelsea 4-1 at the Stadium of Light.

This season, Sunderland have shown they can match the big teams in this league. If they can keep this up, Le Bris’ Black Cats may well write their name in the history books alongside Phillips, Quinn, and Reid.