What will probably cost them automatic promotion is a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal and a habit of conceding late on: since Boxing Day, they have let in four goals in the 90th minute or later; add in the two late penalties they missed at Burnley and that’s eight points frittered in the past two months.
Chris Rigg, Jobe Bellingham, Anthony Patterson and Tommy Watson all have Premier League admirers, Dan Neil and Dennis Cirkin have yet to extend contracts that expire in 2026, and Enzo Le Fée’s loan from Roma is unlikely to be extended if Sunderland remain a Championship club.
Last year, two of the three sides to be promoted had been relegated from the Premier League the previous season.
It’s not an entirely new phenomenon but the clutch of mezzanine sides, too good for the Championship but not quite good enough for the Premier League, has never been so obviously defined.
Sunderland are the outlier this season, although even they were in the Premier League as recently as 2016-17 – and have financial advantages of their own with 40,000 attendances and a Swiss billionaire owner.
