Di Canio closes in on great escape
A 1-0 home win over Everton today lifted the Wearsiders into 14th place six points ahead of third from bottom Wigan Athletic who lost 2-0 at West Ham.
Following last week’s dramatic 3-0 win away to neighbours Newcastle it took a strike from Stephane Sessegnon just before half time to deliver full points against Davie Moyes’ side.
Sunderland looked to be in freefall under Martin O’Neill but the controversial appointment of di Canio has halted the slide with two wins and a narrow defeat at Chelsea from three matches.
Today’s results were bad news for Aston Villa and Wigan who are now four points and seven points detached from safety with Villa travelling to Manchester United on Monday night.
Next Saturday Villa host Sunderland in what will definitely be termed a six pointer with the final day of the season, May 19 seeing Wigan host Aston Villa.
The big losers today were QPR who lost 2-0 at home to out of form Stoke City. Rangers are ten points behind fourth from bottom Aston Villa with just four wins from 34 Premiership matches all season.
QPR have one of the six highest wage bills in the division and face financial meltdown if they are relegated from the Premiership side.
The reality of Premiership promotion can be seen at Wolves and Blackburn who occupy two of the bottom five places in the Championship as they face the very real prospect of back to back relegations despite the comfort of the parachute payment from the Premiership.
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