Relegation battle: The three teams that deserve to be relegated

Number Three: Sunderland

Sunderland are currently dead last in the league with only 20 points. They could have even less points if it weren’t for Jermain Defoe’s heroics throughout the season. They’re not even likely to face a relegation battle if they keep losing.

While I do admire Jermain Defoe’s scoring ability at the tender young age of 34, I think that Sunderland are a boring and defensive team.

Jermain Defoe has given Sunderland hope of surviving with his 14 goals this season but even he can’t keep them in the Premier League.

The truth is, that without Defoe, Sunderland would have already been mathematically relegated at this point of the season. They probably wouldn’t have had even half of their 20 points they’ve somehow accumulated this season.

In fact, Defoe has been so good he’s earned an England call-up. This is amazing for a man at his age.

But I think Sunderland deserve to be relegated as they are a boring team to watch. They sit back and defend for pretty much 90 minutes with the hopes of just hoofing a long ball up to the eternally stranded Defoe to snatch a goal.

They have scored 24 goals this season and won five games, drawn five, while losing 18 games.

Additionally, I don’t really like their manager David Moyes. I can’t really explain why but his defensive attitude doesn’t give him many favors. Although, to be fair, he’s just working with what he has in the team. If they attacked more they’d probably have even less points.  If Sunderland don’t survive the relegation battle it’s likely Moyes will leave or get sacked.

I think the main reason they deserve to be relegated is the lack of ambition and support shown by the owners at this club. While I don’t know a lot about their business model, all I can say is that they haven’t exactly given Moyes much money or support to help him keep them in the Premier League.

They sold one of their best players in Patrick Van Aaanholt to Crystal Palace in the January transfer window and he was their second highest goal scorer with three goals which says something considering he’s a fullback.

The fact that they sold him to one of their relegation battle rivals in Crystal Palace is also a big indicator of their lack of ambition.