Saints head up to the North East looking to secure their Premier league future before the final day of the season.
Saints head to the Stadium Of Light for a game that doesnt look so much do or die as it did a few days ago, knowing that a win would see them mathematically safe from the drop, the fact that we are even in this situation highlights that although it looks like we will survive, the same weak spots that we have had all season have come back to haunt us at vital times and if we are to survive a second season and indeed prosper then we need to address them in the summer.
But on Sunday the chance is there to put underland to the sword and in doing so end all the worries, victory for Saints will see us seven points ahead of Wigan who will only have two games left, if Saints were to fail to win then it wouldnt be a disaster, at least not yet, but it would rely on Wigan failing to beat Arsenal at the Emirates on Tuesday otherwise it could be a tense last day of the season.
The important thing first though is to ensure that we dont lose, our problem though is that we have now gone three games not only without a win but more worryingly a goal in that time and it will be interesting to see if Mauricio Pochettino does anything to change that.
If he does it could see Rickie Lambert dropped to the bench and Jay Rodriguez pushed up front, possibly with Jason Puncheon coming in to replace Rodriguez in midfield, this would add some pace up front lacking in previous games.
The danger man for Sunderland in my opinion is Adam Johnson, against Stoke on Monday night he was just about the only player to look like creating anything and the key to keeping him quiet will be our left hand side, it needs Adam Lallana to be aware and Luke Shaw to not get sucked in too much by Johnsons tricks on the ball.
But even if Johnson does create, Sunderland dont seem to have much up front to aim for, at home the Mackems dont create much, despite a reasonable home record (for a lower table side anyway) of five wins, seven draws and only six defeats, they have only scored 19, a goals tally that only QPR have failed to match in the Premier, against that though they have conceded only 18, the same as Champions Man Utd and bettered by only four sides, all in the top seven.
So it looks like being a low scoring game, on Monday Sunderland looked a poor side driven on by a mad man on the touchline, they had plenty of fight in them, but little quality, on the other hand Stoke were just as poor, although seemingly having quality having little fight, the fact is our Premiership survival is very much in our own hands.
We will now see if our new manager truly is the tactician that some would say or whether rumours from Spain of him as being a one trick pony are nearer the mark.
Truth is this season isnt when we are going to find out, it will be next when he has got the players that he wants coming into the side, rahter than trying to play his preferred formation when he doesnt have the personel to do it.
Saints now need to show their character though, our away record isnt bad considering the terrible start it got off too, nows the time to improve it a little though.