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Gus Poyet couldn't hide his pride in pulling off what must be the greatest escapology act in the history of the Premier League, but his main focus is now on ensuring it isn't required again.
Sunderland beat West Bromwich Albion to maintain a stunning run of form which had already seen points taken from Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Cardiff City, with the latest triumph ensuring top division football at the Stadium of Light again next season.
If you're struggling to believe it, you're not alone. Poyet told reporters:
There will be people still talking about this is many, many years' time. In the future, managers will point to this and say, 'You can do it, even if you are seven points adrift with six games to go.' I don't know if something like this will ever happen again, but I believe in miracles now.
We have shown that it is possible to survive when no one thinks you can. I'm absolutely delighted and proud of what we have achieved.
I'm so pleased for the players, the fans and the club. I was brought into the club to do one job and one job only - to stay in the Premier League. We've done it in a certain style and it's going to be remembered forever.
It has certainly been an incredible turnaround. Plenty of other teams have survived unexpectedly with a late surge of form, but none with such a daunting fixture list.
The Uruguayan vowed not to rest on his laurels though, and insisted attention must immediately turn to ensuring the club are not in a similarly precarious position again.
That's fundamental for me. Can I go another year like these seven months? No. I'm strong, but I don't want to die, I don't want to have a heart-attack, I don't want to lose any more hair than I have lost already.
I want to have a season where I can relax and see my team playing football week in, week out.
Are you going to win the league? No, but we need to make sure we don't go another season like the last two or three because when you play with fire, in the end, you get burnt and we don't want to do that.
We don't want to go down, so we need to make sure that we don't make the same mistakes that we have been making for the last two or three years.
Amen to that!
