Feb 3 : Sunderland find themselves in exalted company this season, on a list with some of Europe’s top teams, as they chase down a Premier League record and a potential berth in continental football next season.
Their 3-0 home win over Burnley on Monday kept up their status as the only side left in the Premier League with an unbeaten home record this season – a feat that puts them in the same category with European champions Paris Saint-Germain and a cohort of giants like Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, who have also not lost at home this season.
The victory also lifted them up to eighth in the league standings, allowing them to eye a place in Europe next season.
But manager Regis Le Bris insisted he was keeping focus on the first priority of garnering enough points to avoid relegation.
“For me, the target remains the same,” he said. “The first target is around 40 points, maybe more. The league is tough. For us, go to 40 and see if we can get more.”
His players, however, have set their sights on a chance to compete in European club competition in the next campaign, possibly even the Champions League.
“We want to reach the top,” said midfielder Noah Sadiki. “If we can get top six or top five. There are a lot of matches coming so we have to focus on the next game.”
Usually, promoted sides struggle for survival in the Premier League, but Sunderland have bucked that trend by turning the Stadium of Light into a fortress.
They now have the longest home unbeaten start to a top-flight campaign by a newly promoted side since Nottingham Forest went the entire 1977-78 campaign without defeat on home soil and won the old First Division title.
Birmingham City hold the record for a newly promoted side in the Premier League era with a 15-match unbeaten home run in 2009-10. Sunderland have had 12 home games so far this campaign, and Le Bris said maintaining the unbeaten run at home was important, “because we know that the connection with our fans is key. We are a newly promoted side, and we feel that we can change the momentum.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
