How many points could Sunderland need to join Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and Man Utd in the Premier League

Sunderland will hope to boost their push for promotion back into the Premier League with a positive result at Preston North End on Wednesday night.

In what has been a season full of memorable moments, Deepdale actually provided the setting for one of the very few negatives as the Black Cats exited the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle with a 2-0 defeat in the opening week of the season.

Since then, Regis Le Bris has suffered just two defeats as Sunderland have marched to the top of the Championship table and they still hold a three-point advantage at the top of the table after battling to a share of the spoils with ten men at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

The Black Cats’ form has sparked genuine hopes a return to the top flight is a realistic target this season - but how many points could Sunderland need to claim promotion? We take a look back at the last 13 seasons to see the tallies racked up by promoted clubs during that time.