Sunderland may have to win all five of their remaining games to give themselves a chance of squeezing into the play-off places, according to Tony Mowbray. The Black Cats are still in the play-off race, with four points standing between them and the top six.
With back-to-back home games against Birmingham City on Saturday and then Huddersfield Town on Tuesday, Sunderland can apply real pressure on their rivals if they emerge from those two fixtures with six points. They would then round off their season with three games against sides who also harbour play-off ambitions, with a trip to West Brom, a home game against Watford, and then a last-day trip to Preston North End.
But to reach the point where those games really matter, Mowbray knows his team must first find the wins they need against 17th-placed Birmingham and 19th-placed Huddersfield. Mowbray said: "You can see the finish line now, just down the road.
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"We've got five games to go, and if we can win these next two home games, then we'll have three games to go and we'll be right in touch. We should rightly be excited.
"What you do know, with so few games left, is that if you lose a game, it can put you out of contention if you're the team chasing. We have to be really focused and concentrate on tomorrow, and hope that we can make it exciting for Tuesday night.
"Then, if we can win on Tuesday too, that'll make it really exciting for the following weekend, and then every game is genuinely a cup final because you're going to have to get three points. If you don't, you'll drop away.
"Really, the target has to be for us to get as close as we possibly can to winning five football matches. That's what it might take and, let's be honest, that's pretty unlikely because we haven't done it all season, so why would we do it now?
"But let's enjoy the challenge, starting with Birmingham tomorrow. Let's get three points, and see where that takes us."
Sunderland's Easter Monday win at relegation strugglers Cardiff City saw them climb one place to tenth in the table. Millwall and Blackburn occupy fifth and sixth spots with Preston seventh, all four points ahead of the Black Cats - albeit Blackburn also have a game in hand of the rest of the play-off chasing pack.
Norwich City are eighth, three points ahead of Sunderland, and Coventry ninth, a point ahead of the Wearsiders. West Brom and Watford are one point and two points respectively behind Sunderland.
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