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Southampton Sell Out Is 14th Of The Season
Saturday's trip to the south coast - an away game at St Mary's against Ronald Koeman's Southampton - has seen yet another away allocation sold out by Sunderland's travelling supporters, the fourteenth of the current season.
The 660-mile round trip will be attended by well over two-thousand Sunderland fans, all hoping Sam Allardyce's men can avenge the chronic display put in when the two sides met in last season's corresponding fixture, a game which ended 8-0 to the Saints.
Well done to all attending - lets hope the players recognise the amazing support they get from the Sunderland supporters and bring home three points.
Cash Turnstiles For Tomorrow's Palace Game
Tickets for tomorrow's home game against Crystal Palace will be available to buy at the turnstiles.
Turnstiles thirteen and fourteen will be open for fans choosing to get their tickets on the evening of the game, but should you choose to get yours in advance then season card holders are able to purchase up to two tickets for friends and family for only a tenner per ticket. Decent.
Details on how to take up Sunderland on that offer are here.
Sam: Five Wins From Eleven Needed To Avoid The Drop
Sam Allardyce has said he feels Sunderland need to win five of their next eleven games if we are to avoid relegation to the Championship.
Sam's men still have games at home against Crystal Palace, Everton, West Brom, Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea to play, whilst away trips to Southampton, Newcastle, Norwich, Stoke and Watford are also ahead.
He explained:
We have to have our best run of season - five victories out of eleven minimum, that is thirty-eight points in the hope that thirty-eight points will be enough again this year.
The pressure on Tuesday is immense now, it is whether we can cope with that, as well as being tactically astute enough not to let Crystal Palace play to their game plan. We have to try and keep a clean sheet we desperately need and be clever enough to put the ball in the net.
We have had so many opportunities where we could have drawn and lost. A few more points would have taken us out of the bottom three for a change.
It's a massive ask. Our away games look far more appealing than our home fixtures, but whether we have it in us to go on a run of wins is anyone's guess.
If we beat Palace tomorrow then things look more positive, but failing to do so will harm our chances significantly. The sooner we get those five wins, the better.
Sako & Bolasie Set To Return For Palace
Crystal Palace should have forwards Yannick Bolasie and Bakary Sako back in their side for tomorrow night's game, handing Alan Pardew a timely boost as they look to end a run of eleven games without a win.
Bolasie scored a hattrick last season against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and should start following his return from injury, whilst Sako is back in full training after six weeks out with a hamstring issue.
AP: Sako will probably be available for this game, he's got more of a chance. He did some work over the weekend.
— Crystal Palace FC (@CPFC) 29 February 2016
Bridcutt Keen On Leeds Switch - But Only If Club Show Similar Ambition
It seems inevitable that Liam Bridcutt will leave Sunderland in the summer, and the player has said he's leaving his options open ahead of the summer, insisting he'd be keen on a permanent move to Leeds but only if the club's ambitions match his own.
Bridcutt has been in outstanding form for the Yorkshire side and had admitted he wants to be back playing in the Premier League sooner rather than later.
He told the Yorkshire Post:
I’m really happy here. I’m playing football, which is what I came here for,and that mattered more than anything else. I said when I first joined that there was no point talking about the future there and then because I wasn’t playing games (at Sunderland). Playing games was about my only priority.
We are all thinking about next season now though. I don’t know what’s ahead of me but that doesn’t mean I’ll just play out the games we’ve got left. I want to play well in them. The better I play the more options I’ll have in the summer. The more options I have the better it is and you only get options by playing well. Leeds would only want me if I’m playing well.
For me, yes I’d like to stay at Leeds if the circumstances are right so every time I go out on the pitch, I’m playing for a place in the team and not just for this season. But I do want to play in the Premier League. I’ve been at that level before. Every club I’m at, I want to be aiming high and I want the club to aim high. If Leeds are willing to do that in the summer then I’d be happy to stay.
You have to wonder whether or not we'd keep ahold of Bridcutt should we be relegated to the Championship. He's proven at that level and playing very well currently - that said, hopefully it never comes to that.
