Sunderland: 10 Things That Will Definitely Happen This Season

2. Slide Into A Relegation Battle, Before End Of Season Burst

Sunderland will look to be going along decently enough after Christmas, but the calm sea will rapidly give birth to a storm. By March, the sirens will be crying, alarm bells ringing, and the message boards seething. The Black Cats will be hauled into a relegation battle thanks to home defeats against every side near them in the table (except Newcastle). But while every season starts with a 'we'll never get that lucky again' and 'our luck will run out soon', Sunderland consistently pull a whopper run out of the bag and survive by a hair. This will spark another summer rebuild, with Dick Advocaat's future in doubt, but hey, at least we're still in the Premier League, right?