Sunderland fans were delighted when the 2023/24 finally came to an end in May.
Despite reaching the Championship play-offs in their first season back in the league, their second was far from successful.
After controversially sacking Tony Mowbray, Sunderland replaced him with Michael Beale and things began to rapidly go downhill.
The 43-year-old as sacked after 12 games, with Mike Dodds taking temporary charge until the end of the season.
The Black Cats went onto finish 16th – only six points above the relegation zone.
After a slow start to the summer, things are now beginning to look up for Sunderland. They have since appointed Regis Le Bris as their new manager, as well as making three new signings in Simon Moore, Alan Browne and Ian Poveda.
With fans will be hoping to push on for promotion this term, they won’t be too pleased with Opta’s latest predictions.
Sunderland tipped to battle relegation
Opta’s supercomputer has predicted the entire 2024/25 Championship table ahead of this weekend’s opener and has placed Sunderland just one position outside of the bottom three.
The report has given the Black Cats a whopping 24.1% chance of being relegated back down to League One, with only Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle and Cardiff City below them.
It has also predicted Leeds United and Middlesbrough to win automatic promotion, while Burnley, West Brom, Luton and Norwich are inside the top six.
Opta’s predictions are based entirely on what it knows today, but can’t factor in change of manager.
Regis Le Bris won’t be facing the drop this season
What the report is basically saying is if Sunderland had restarted the season straight after the last finished then they would be in big trouble – which seems pretty obvious.
If Mowbray had left weeks earlier and Beale had been put in charge instead, he could have quite easily cost Sunderland their place in the Championship.
It would be a huge shock if the club were to do as poorly this time round though, as Le Bris certainly seems to know what he’s doing, while he has also brought in much-needed experience to the squad.
Sunderland fans should take Opta’s predictions with a pinch of salt, because it could well say they are going to win the league instead by the end of the month.