Fan blog: Sunderland's Premier League fate is still in their own hands

We thought a corner had been turned at Crystal Palace, and once again passed up another glorious opportunity to make ground on the sides immediately above us.

But just like the Swansea and Stoke games, we emphatically fluffed our lines.

With 13 games to go we are still remarkably only two points away from Leicester City in 17th, with some fairly favourable fixtures still to play; favourable on paper at least!

So it still is very much in our own hands to put this right, for the fifth season in a row.

I always work at a point a game, 38 from 38 games to survive in this league, but 36 might even be enough this time around.

The fact remains that SAFC find themselves in a perilous position once again, but I've tried my damnedest to extract some positivity in recent days.

We’ve been here too many times before and survived.

A gap in the fixture list last Saturday saw David Moyes take the players away to New York for a team bonding trip, something that had been publicly slammed by some supporters after the Saints debacle.

Listen, I understand that, but if Moyes says it's worked at previous clubs, and he thinks it'll work here, then I'm all for it.

Anything is worth a try to improve things on the pitch. We won't see the fruits of that trip until we analyse results in the coming weeks.

Here's hoping though, that our pickings aren't rotten to the core.

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