In just a few hours, Leeds United will take on Sheffield United in a high-stakes clash at Bramall Lane. The top two sides of the Championship will battle for supremacy and try to tilt the balance of the automatic promotion race towards each other. They are the favourites to go promoted but Burnley are still in the race and despite what Scott Parker could be claiming, he would have one eye on the result. Sunderland seem like a rank outsider in the race at the moment but they are still not out of it and Wearside will also have their focus on the result in Sheffield tonight.
Sunderland’s 2-2 defeat at Elland Road last week appeared to have been a gut punch in their hopes of earning automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Another defeat at Hull City over the weekend seemed to have more or less ended their chances of finishing in the top two but the Black Cats are not refusing to give up yet.
They are eight points behind the top two spots at the moment but Sunderland believe if they stitch together another good run of results anything could still happen in a Championship season that could still have one final twist.
Sunderland will hope both sides end up dropping points at Bramall Lane tonight to ensure that they can cling on in the race to finish in the automatic promotion spots.
Centre-back Luke O’Nien has not given up yet and it seems he and his teammates are willing to take this fight until the end of the season, no matter how hopeless it looks at the moment.
It’s irrelevant where any team are at the moment – Sunderland star
The quality of Leeds and Sheffield United and the consistency they have shown until now suggests that they will end up finishing in the automatic promotion spots.
Burnley still have a chance but Sunderland seem far off the pace, especially after two defeats against Leeds and Hull in back-to-back games.
They seem nailed on to finish in the playoff spots but the top two seem a bridge too far for the Black Cats. However, O’Nien appears to be ready to fight until the end.
He stressed that it doesn’t matter where the teams are at this stage as the only position that will matter is where they will be at the end of the season.
The Sunderland defender insisted that there are still far too many points to play for and nothing has been decided yet for any team.
“There’s a hell of a lot of work to do”, O’Nien was quoted as saying by Leeds Live.
“When you win a game, if you go into first or second, it’s irrelevant. It’s where you are on the 46th game that’s the most important. So there’s a lot of minutes to be played, a lot of points to get picked up and our focus isn’t just to win a game, look at the table and get all emotional.
“It’s win, lose, reflect, make sure the team moves forward and go towards the next game.”
Leeds can afford to look forward
The Yorkshire giants have a ten-point lead over Sunderland and have an opportunity to extend that lead to 13 if they win at Bramall Lane today.
It would take a monumental loss of form on Leeds’ part to allow Sunderland to catch up to them and the Whites should have too much for them this season.
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Sunderland are a solid team and gave a good account of themselves at Elland Road. However, Leeds bullied them towards the end and their class showed in the way they came back and won the game.
Leeds can afford to relax when it comes to the threat from Sunderland and look forward to further consolidating their position tonight.
Sunderland seem certain to finish in the playoff spots and could still get promoted as they seem so much better than the teams below them at the moment.
However, O’Nien and his teammates can forget about catching up to the top two teams at this stage of the season.
