With just two games left running in the Premier League calendar and Manchester United already decided as champs, attention now turns to help two specific races— people being the race for a top four finish and the race against relegation.
Unfortunately with the north-east, this season hasn't been a specially good one for Sunderland and additionally Newcastle United, both of whom feel the ferociously fighting against this drop, with neither club's long run yet secure.
As things stand, the bitter rivals tend to be level on 38 points apiece in addition to Norwich City, a points tally that could yet save all a few clubs from playing Champion football next season.
Still, that won't stop the two Black Cats and Magpies proponents alike from wishing a bring back to England's second tier at their local enemies, a division that neither club has been away from for extremely long.
For Alan Pardew's men, an away trip so that you can Queens Park Rangers and a home fixture next to Arsenal doesn't look all those things appealing. Reading showed with their 4-2 victory at Fulham last weekend that even a relegated side can work up the nerve for a end-of-season boost, and wouldn't it be classic with the Hoops to finally band together when this means the least to all of them?
Sunderland's run doesn't acquire any easier. The Mackems host Southampton this weekend in what will undoubtedly become a must-win match for Paolo Di Canio, although obviously any good point should be enough to guarantee their top-flight survival.
With fate-like circumstances, Sunderland may even finish their season next to North London opposition, attempting to cause an upset with White Hart Lane are provided May 19. Spurs' four-match unbeaten record from home marks Di Canio's men out as firm underdogs for the trip, and with just an individual goal scored away at Aston Villa a week ago the Wearsiders can only pray for a dramatic turnaround facing goal.
In the close, the chase for your 17th-place finish or above will almost certainly come down to in a situation of goal difference, an area in which Sunderland currently fare better than their northern counterparts.
The only side in the relegation zone still with a chance to make it out usually are Wigan Athletic, who boast the same goal difference to Pardew's aspect (-23), meaning one positive result is enough so as to scrape their way straight from the bottom three, albeit relying on Newcastle to falter.
Sunderland's distinction of -12, while not great by any means, will do the club something come the end in the season and even any time Roberto Martinez's men had been to claim another result, the Black Cats still have a bit of breathing space. Suddenly, four 1-0 wins, five 1-1 draws together with three 0-0 stalemates don't seem the only thing that bad.
Having both lost three within their last six outings, neither of the north-east's finest are in great model of late, but can at a minimum hope that the glimmer of daylight currently separating them within the relegation spots will continue to be come May 20.
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