Roker Roundtable: How many points will Sunderland take from the last two games?

Ewan Bowman says…

Six points will see us finish in the playoffs, which would be a remarkable achievement, but Watford at home is a lot more worrying for me due to our home record.

They’ve been extremely poor recently but they do have match winners such as Ismaila Sarr and Joao Pedro who can cause any team damage on their day. However, with a bumper crowd at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, I hope and pray the lads are at it from the off and come away with all three points.

Then, all roads lead to Preston on the final day.

Our away record has been extremely good this season and I fancy us to continue that at Deepdale. By that point, I’m hopeful that Preston will be out of the race and their players will be thinking about their holidays. With our attacking players, I fancy us to beat any side, especially on the road.

Football is a funny game and to be sitting here talking about a playoff place shows how well the players have done.

Let’s get right behind them on Saturday, take it to the last game and get the job done!

Photo by Barrington Coombs/PA Images via Getty Images

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Malc Dugdale says…

The ideal answer to this is six, but I’m not super confident we can do that.

The game against Watford is arguably the bigger banana skin as our home form has been the chink in our armour this season.

That said, they’ve lost their last two and have nothing to really play for, being sixteen points clear of Reading in third bottom. They’re more than well positioned for another go at getting back to the Premier League next season but is that a good thing or not?

We saw how taking teams for granted can bite you when we drew at home to Huddersfield, but the team spirit being roused by Neil Warnock (which now has his team a point outside the drop zone with a game in hand) will hopefully not be the case for the visitors this weekend.

With Preston away, I’m more confident as our away form and away following have both been incredible this season.

They’ve taken one point from the last available nine but they can stay in the chase for the top six by getting something from their visit to Sheffield United this weekend.

Ideally, the Blades will put Preston out of the hunt and we’ll be able to complete a treble win to take us into playoff football.

For me, the only way we’ll make it is by winning both games, as any one of six or more teams are in the mix and we can’t expect all those results to fall our way.

One game at a time, starting with Watford. I can’t wait.

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Tom Albrighton says…

Pretty simply, six points.

We’ve seen enough football to know that it’s an unpredictable business and the thought of leaving anything to chance whilst we’re so close is enough to give you a knot in your stomach.

Rather than rely on favours from other teams, aiming for the full allocation of points may well be our only way into the playoffs.

Not only do we need to aim for the full six, we also need to try and roll over both Watford and Preston, somehow.

The chances of the top six being decided on goal difference remains a real possibility, meaning our difference of +10 puts us in the driving seat, but yet again we simply can’t rely on others to help us out.

After being in this situation multiple times in League One, the club must’ve learned lessons in being masters of our own fate and quite simply, we have to go out there and win but also win well.

It beggars belief that we’re in this position, so let’s leave nothing to chance.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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