Sunderland have diced with relegation in the past three campaigns but scrambled their way to safety and Sam Allardyce, who joined them this season and has a record of rescuing sides, says many of his players know a redemptive turning point when they see one – and believe this victory at Carrow Road may be it.
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Fabio Borini opened the scoring from the penalty spot after a challenge from Andre Wisdom, before Jermain Defoe doubled the lead just after the break and Duncan Watmore struck a third in stoppage time.
Steve Wilson: “These two sides met in the 1985 League Cup final (1-0 to Norwich) and the 1992 FA Cup semi-final (1-0 to Sunderland) – but, even so, this must be by far the biggest match ever played between Norwich and Sunderland”.
Alex Neil’s side are aiming to win consecutive home games for only the second time this season having beaten fellow relegation rivals Newcastle 3-2 in a thriller in their last outing in front of their own fans. Playing well at the moment doesn’t matter, all that matters is results and we’ve got it and it’s a big, big, big, big win.
Danny Drinkwater got the better of Cattermole at the Stadium of Light last week, and the Sunderland skipper played like he had a point to prove at Carrow Road.
He added: “If we can do that we can all come home very happy and look forward to the next game”.
“Its pressure on our shoulders, but footballers are blessed to live the kind of lives that they do, so we should embrace it in a way”.
The Black Cats have a massive clash against Norwich this Saturday, which will go a long way to determine their status for next season, but Mannone thinks they should keep their manager whatever happens.
They average a point per game under Sam Allardyce, losing half of his 24 league matches in charge (W6, D6, L12).
“Everything you want to talk about when you talk about football I thought we were dominant”.
He said: “I think decisions within the game didn’t go in our favour, but I think decisions we made also contributed to it”. We take a look below at who could appear, with our probable lineups. “Then we’ve got Everton at Everton and thankfully their home record is not particularly good so we need to target that as well”.
But all that fine work has produced too little in terms of improved points return and only six games remain for Allardyce to show it is not also too late.
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Sunderland grabbed the second in the 53rd minute when Borini pinged a flawless low ball across goal and Defoe arrived at the far post to tuck away his 16th goal of the season.
