Dick Advocaat will hope to have assured Sunderland of their Premier League status before their final two games of the season against Arsenal and Chelsea – and given Sunderland’s record against their remaining opponents so far this season, he’ll be confident they can do just that.
Sunderland have already taken 12 points from the teams they have left to play in this campaign. A repeat would move them on to 38 points – and beyond the average tally of 36.5 points usually record to stay up.
But Merson says he can see Newcastle winning at the Stadium Of Light, and their record says nothing because "they are simply the worst team in the Premier League at the moment, so facts and figures won't save them."
Paul Merson: "I think they will go down. They are not scoring goals, they are not playing well, the manager has come in and he doesn’t know this league. I think he will find it very difficult.