Sunderland AFC news round-up: Pundits and bookies write off Sunderland's survival chances

Leicester, Crystal Palace and Swansea all won to further their recent momentum and leave the Black Cats six points adrift.

Understandably, post-match reaction to the City defeat has been dominated by talk of the drop.

So who is saying what?

The bookies

Sunderland are being given little hope of surviving in the markets, with most bookies offering 1/7 on the Black Cats being relegated.

Numerous prominent bookies are even more confident of Sunderland's demise, offering 1/10.

Despite that, they are not expecting David Moyes to lose his job, 7/1 with most to be the next Premier League manager sacked.

Odds are shorter on no more managers being sacked this season, with Aitor Karanka the heavy odds-on favourite.

If that happened Sunderland would be the only side in the bottom six not to change their manager this campaign.

The pundits

Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp were in the studio and both are downbeat about Sunderland's chances.

Redknapp said: "I do fear for them,

"They have danced with the devil too many times. The personnel aren't good enough."

Souness has earmarked some crucial games, with Burnley, Watford and Leicester City the next three fixtures that will define the Black Cats season.

He said: "They have got to get some momentum going. They have got to get some belief."

Phil Neville praised Sunderland's first half performance on Match of the Day 2 but he and Jermaine Jenas criticized fans for leaving early in a Facebook Live broadcast.

Jenas said: "In recent weeks Sunderland fans have had more than good reason but today I didn't think the players of Sunderland didn't put in the effort, the quality isn't there, the effort was there. It's demoralising for the players."

The players

Former Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet is hoping that the Black Cats will beat the drop.

He said: "Actually yesterday, I was cheering for them as they could have done us a favour,

"I still have contact with a lot of people up there, and I still want them to stay up. They gave me a chance to play in the Premier League, and I’ll never forget that."

Seb Larsson meanwhile has said that Sunderland must not be distracted by the upturns in fortunes elsewhere.

He said: "Of course you know what's going on, it would be silly of me to say anything else. Of course you do.

"Of course you would like the other teams not to win but over the course of a season that's not going to happen.

"You know roughly what is required points-wise to stay in this league and regardless of what the other teams do, it's going to end up being somewhere around that tally, the way it's been the last few years.

"We need to reach that. It's up to us to get enough points and, if we get to that sort of level, we'll be okay. If we don't, we obviously won't be okay."