― Reuters picNORWICH, Apr 16 ― Sunderland grabbed a priceless lifeline in the fight for Premier League survival as goals from Fabio Borini and Jermain Defoe inspired a 3-0 win over relegation rivals Norwich today.
Advertisement
Fabio Borini (7 out of 10) – First impact of the match came on 40 minutes when he won and slotted home the penalty, and he also bagged an assist when he found Defoe for the second goal. Despite the result, Sunderland remains in 18th place – a point from safety – with a match in hand over Norwich, which is immediately outside of the relegation zone in 17th.Dieumerci Mbokani is likely to lead the line for Norwich City on Saturday, and although he has just one goal in his last ten appearances the threat posed by the powerful frontman cannot be underestimated.
“We were able to clear the decks of players who simply didn’t want to know”, says Chris Laws, writer for Newcastle fanzine True Faith of the club’s demise in 2009.
“If we’re going to stay up we’re going to have to do it the hard way”.
“I spoke to Lee Cattermole a few times about it and he said players have performed better at this stage of the season, the best they’ve performed all season, to get out of trouble”.
Speaking on the game itself, he added: “We handled the pressure better”.
Timm Klose will face a late fitness test on his knee injury, after limping off in the Canaries game against Crystal Palace, last week.
“Leadership, both on and off the field, is what’s required in relegation dogfights and Sunderland clearly demonstrated that they have that off the pitch in Allardyce and, more importantly, on the pitch in Cattermole”. If The Canaries win, as they did against Newcastle, the gap will be a whopping seven points.
And Neil believes his side must now win at least two of their remaining fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester United, Watford and Everton.
Supersub Duncan Watmore then wrapped up the win in stoppage time, with Big Sam raving: “I call him Road Runner because he never stops, he has so much energy and ability”.
“I think it’s a huge advantage we’re playing at home, our form at home has been better than away from home, as you would expect for a team at the bottom end of the table”, said Neil. But he has told friends he will walk away from the Stadium of Light if he is unable to keep the club in the Premier League.
“They’ll still be four points ahead of us with five games left, instead of six”.
“We are still in front though, they still have to win points and their games are not easy”.
“We’d be in a really great position if we win, but we’ve just got to enjoy it”. We showed we can beat any team if we play football as we know how.
Advertisement
“There’s a lot of experience in that dressing room, and I think we all stood together for the task in hand”.
