Dan Neil insists Sunderland's final seven games are not meaningless - and a strong finish to the campaign could see them on the riding on the coattails of the play-off battle right to the end. The Black Cats resumed their Championship campaign after the international break with a fine performance to secure a goalless draw against runaway leaders Burnley at Turf Moor.
And while Sunderland remain in midtable after a run which has seen them win just one of their last seven games, they are not completely out of the play-off picture even though they have a lot of ground to make up in the run-in. To an extent, the pressure is off in the remaining games with Sunderland safe in the knowledge that they are well clear of the relegation struggle and have only an outside chance of elbowing their way into the top six, but Neil says they will not be content to merely coast to the finishing line.
"We do want to bed in young players [during the run-in] and want to to give them a taste, but we are still professionals at the end of the day and we want to finish as high as we possibly can," said the homegrown midfielder, who signed a new contract during the international break which ties him to the club until 2026. "Every single game we are going into it wanting to win.
