Sunderland defender Danny Collins has admitted he never expected to finish the season in the thick of a relegation fight.
The 28-year-old Welshman, a veteran of the club's last slide into the Coca-Cola Championship, was as confident as anyone that the Black Cats would push on from last season's 15th-placed finish to ease themselves into a comfortable mid-table position this time around.
However, they head into the final-day clash with Chelsea knowing they may need to win to stay up, far from the scenario he envisaged back in August.
Collins said: "I think we thought we would be sitting somewhere like Wigan or West Ham in that middle of the table where they haven't got too much to play for now.
"It's exciting for the neutrals, I suppose. The last time we were relegated, we were down long before the end of the season, which wasn't nice, so at least we are still in the mix of things and still in the driving seat."
Comment 1 - 3 of 3
I figure that teams such as Wigan and West Ham are perpetually competing for Europe throughout the season - even though they haven't been the last few weeks...I thought it was cheeky for Collins to compare himself to those teams, given the season Sunderland has had...
I'm sure in the article Collins states that he believes Sunderland should be in the same position as teams that have nothing left to play for. How does that equate to competeing for Europe Jock?
Collins thinks Sunderland should have been competing for Europe??? Only a Welshman....
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account