Sunderland’s chances of promotion have been rated by one EFL pundit.
After an emphatic start to the 2024/25 Championship campaign, Sunderland have tailed off slightly after a fifth successive draw last time out against West Brom, which finished 0-0.
The Black Cats have very uncharacteristically not quite been up to scratch in front of goal, and as a result the points have not gone in their favour.
Various absentees in the side have caused issues, from Jobe Bellingham’s prior three-game suspension after he picked up a red card in the draw against Queens Park Rangers, to the more recent exclusion of Romaine Mundle due to injury concerns.
After such a sluggish spell recently, the promotion chances for Sunderland have now been rated by one EFL pundit.
Sunderland promotion chances rated after poor spell of form
The Black Cats have endured a tricky spell as of recent times, and that means that they now sit in joint-first with Sheffield United, who they will face off against on Friday evening, when they were several points ahead at the start of the month.
The likelihood of Sunderland returning to the Premier League has now been rated by EFL pundit Sam Parkin, who isn’t quite optimistic when looking towards the rest of the season for Regis Le Bris’ side.
Per The Championship Check-In Podcast, Parkin said: “My gut would say that it would be difficult to see Sunderland being title challengers. I’ll go that strong.
“Automatic promotion, I would be surprised, but I am not going to totally rule it out because there have been some circumstances that have gone against them and if they can bolster in the window, I don’t know if that is a reality or if that is just a cliché that people wheel out as we are getting towards the window opening, I am not so sure.
“But I think that the start to the season was phenomenal, but it was not going to be sustained across the season; otherwise, we’d have been talking about one of the stories to go up there with some of the most incredible feats we have seen in the second.”
Sunderland character will show in upcoming games
The recent blip has certainly been very costly in regards to Sunderland’s surprising progress towards being a promotion contender in the 2024/25 Championship campaign.
However, the Black Cats are far from being out of the picture, despite not being the favourites to be at the summit of the table by the end of the season, but their chances of doing so will really shine through depending on the next few fixtures.
Sunderland really need to show their character to really determine their promotion chances, and Le Bris needs to ensure that his side are up for the big challenges, including the away trip to Sheffield United.