Sunderland (Relegation Chance 7/10)
Sunderland are in an interesting spot, compared to the rest of the table. They currently are managed by Sam Allardyce, who, while very much a marmite manager, has never been relegated. He knows how to escape the drop, and does it with a very particular style. This is also the style that they should go with.
Sunderland need to become impossible to beat, whether at home or on the road. I don’t care if they need to play 5 defenders and two defensive midfielders. They have leaked more goals than any other team in the Premier League. That is not an Allardyce team. Big Sam has already gone about fixing this, with a bid for Lorient centerback Lamine Kone being reportedly accepted. He will most like partner Kaboul in defense.
They are also rumored to be interested in Mathieu Debuchy, who is out of favor at Arsenal. Both could be shrewd moves and bring plenty of experience to that backline. Allardyce also is looking to improve the attack by bringing in Dame N’Doye on loan and attempting to swap Fabio Borini and money for Swansea’s Andre Ayew. It would be an incredible move for them, but I sincerely doubt it will happen. If they were to pull it off, this move would go a long way of saving them from relegation, as it would also weaken relegation rivals Swansea. The important thing for Sunderland now is to turn losses to draws and pip the occasional win on the counter. It’s ugly, but it works.
Aston Villa (Relegation Chance 9.9/10)
Finally, we have Aston Villa. Remi Garde’s men have won a shocking two games this entire season. They currently sit with 13 points and are without a doubt relegation favorites. This is, without a doubt, the hardest team to save. The one thing working in their favor is that they haven’t allowed too many goals. Only 38, which still puts them in the relegation-risk zone, but not at the bottom of the table.
No, it’s pretty clear where the problems lie. They have only scored 18 goals the entire season. That is nowhere near good enough to survive. The only suggestion I can think of, as they haven’t really made any moves this window, is to take all of the money they made off of selling Christian Benteke to Liverpool and try to get him back. With a new manager in charge who seems to not favor the big Belgian, and Liverpool having their own goalscoring issue, they might be tempted to take that money and give it to Klopp to use. For Benteke, he might be able to be tempted to return to Villa in order to start consistently ahead of the European Championship in the summer. Aston Villa will get a consistent goalscorer that knows the team and the fans, and could be used to excite the rest of the team going into the end of the season. It would be a gambit, but it could pay off if Aston Villa pulled off the transfer. That being said, it might already be too late.
