I Looked At The Fixtures – Ex-EFL Star Won’t Rule Out Top Two Finish For Sunderland | OneFootball

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Former EFL star Adrian Clarke is of the opinion that with players returning from injury, Sunderland can still finish second to achieve automatic promotion in the Championship.

Sunderland suffered a 2-1 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road despite leading the game 1-0, as Pascal Struijk’s brace forced them to return home empty-handed.

The Black Cats are currently sitting fourth in the league table with 62 points from 33 games and are eight points behind Sheffield United, who are occupying the last automatic promotion spot.

Clarke pointed out that Sunderland have six home games left against teams in the bottom half and stressed they do have a good home record against teams from the lower part of the table.

He said that he is refusing to rule out Sunderland from the race for automatic promotion and thinks that with players like Romain Mundle and Tommy Watson returning, they can close the gap to slip into second place.

“I looked at the fixtures; they have six games against the bottom half sides to come at the Stadium of Light”, Clarke said on What The EFL (14:25).

“Now the six they have played against bottom-half teams at home, they have dropped only two points, so if they get 16 from 18 here, they are already up to 78.

“I won’t rule them out; if others falter, they could slip into second still.

“I thought they did pretty well and they obviously have good players to come back with Mundle and Tommy Watson in particular returning soon.”

Sunderland are set to play against a relegation-threatened Hull City on Saturday at the Stadium of Light and will be keen on securing three points to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.