The stats experts at Opta have released their latest predicted final Premier League table.

There can be no doubt the last week has been the most difficult of what has been a largely positive season for Sunderland.

After suffering an agonising late defeat at Aston Villa last Sunday afternoon, the Black Cats crashed to a 5-0 hammering against Nottingham Forest at the Stadium of Light on Friday night. Goals from Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White, Igor Jesus and Elliot Anderson only added to the pain for Regis Le Bris and his players after a Trai Hume own goal had put Forest on the front foot and allowed them to boost their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League during the final weeks of the season.

That battle for survival was where Sunderland were expected to spend the vast majority of the season after they secured a return to the top flight with a Championship play-off final win against Sheffield United last May. Although the last week has been disappointing, the Black Cats have far surpassed all expectations and remain on the fringes of the race for European places despite suffering consecutive defeats over the last seven days.

As it stands, Sunderland are in the bottom half of the Premier League table - but they are within touching distance of the top seven with just four games remaining. So that seems a good time to see where the Black Cats are predicted to finish in the table with a table pieced together by the stats experts at Opta.