Perhaps the greatest match ever played at St Mary's in terms of scoreline was the 8-0 drubbing of Sunderland back in October but what will Sunderland;s focus be on ?

Sunderland face Saints on Saturday deep in trouble, they now occupy the last relegation spot and know that if they are not careful they could find themselves cut adrift, in most relegation fights there is usually a club who comes good in the final games and pulls clear and that is often at the expense of a club dropping into the zone who have spent much of the season in relative safety.

At the moment that club looks likely to be Sunderland after a run that has seen them win only once in the last ten league games, if you add to that 4 draws then they have amassed only 7 points out of a possible 30, a ratio that is way below what is required to stay up.

Ironically their one win came against local rivals Newcastle who are on an even worse run of form which if not arrested in the next game or two could see them dragged into a relegation battle.

A few weeks ago perhaps Sunderland would have envisaged themselves as nearly safe and would have been looking towards this game as a chance to gain revenge for their embarrassing defeat at St Mary's six months ago, they would have imagined that by now they would have been comfortably in mid table and could concentrate on making us squirm for what we did to them.

But the situation is now somewhat different, they are fighting for their lives and events off the field are not helping, Adam Johnson having been now charged with offences of a sexual nature not haing helped their cause, of course Johnson is innocent till proven guilty so i can see why they have not suspended him, but the worry is the issue might affect their cause negatively rather than positively.

So Saints go up to the Stadium Of Light knowing that this is perhaps one of the most volatile crowds in the country, yes when the crows is behind its team there are few better atmospheres, but the Sunderland support is getting a reputation for storming out of games, there barely seems to be a game where a significant amount of Mackems arent throwing their scarves at the manager or departing before half time, certainly that has been the case in two out of three of their last home games when first Aston Villa won 4-0 and then Crystal Palace 4-1 with that 1-0 win over Newcastle sandwiched in between.

With only three home wins all season added to seven draws and the same number of defeats, Sunderland's home record is as bad as just about anyones, only perhaps Villa getting less points on their own turf.

So Saints job on Saturay is to make them concentrate on relegation and not on revenge, if Saints can get a grip of the game early and perhaps get an early goal or two then they can turn the crowd and create an atmosphere that hinders Sunderland rather than helping them.

Photo: Action Images

marcusblackcat added 15:51 - Apr 28 " Sunderland support is getting a reputation for storming out of games, there barely seems to be a game where a significant amount of Mackems arent throwing their scarves at the manager or departing before half time" What absolute rubbish - twice this seaon have there been fans streaming out of a game - only once before half time and that was at 4-0 down against Aston Vila. Only once have I seen fans throwing scarves at the boss and that was Poyet's last game - yes, you guessed it, the 4-0 drubbing against Aston Villa. Only 2 games in my life have I left before full time - that one and the Palace one recently - I would defy any fan of ANY club to stay till the end of those games

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A1079 added 17:47 - Apr 28 Whilst Sunderland may seek some sort of revenge I am sure their focus will be to get the much needed 3 points. They won't care how they will achieve it. Added to which, if they do, they may conceivably drag their rivals into the relegation battle, who are now looking increasingly like candidates. We need to be sure we are focussed and up for the game and not think for one minute that all we have to do is turn up, not least, as I cannot stand 2 years of going to Sunderland and not see us make an effort (I have been to too many away games recently where I have felt I have wasted money - what was the stat I heard at the weekend - one point out of a possible 12 away - which is not too good). The 8-0 is history, it counts for nothing on Saturday. I quite enjoy going to Sunderland, but unlucky or something, I have not seen a good performance their yet (I am not saying we have not had a good performance away, but I have just picked the wrong games), so hopefully Saturday that can be changed.

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SanMarco added 23:31 - Apr 28 If I may answer the question posed in the headline - As relegation and revenge situations will both be best served by beating us then my guess is Sunderland will be trying to win. We don't often do or play well up there and I think it will be tough as they have more to play for than we do. One thing I will predict is that we won't lose 9-8 on aggregate...
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halftimeorange added 12:07 - Apr 29 What both teams have to contend with is the worst referee in the PL. Michael Jones is prone to making game-changing errors and is yellow and red card happy. He has been openly criticised this season by a fair number of managers and was truly awful in our game against Man C.
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