Where are Sunderland predicted to finish in this season's Championship table following their 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday?

There were joyous scenes amongst the away support as Sunderland firmly moved on from suffering consecutive defeats against Hull City and Leeds United by claiming all three points from their trip to Sheffield Wednesday.

Taking on Danny Rohl’s side was always going to provide a significant threat to the Black Cats’ promotion bid as the Owls were looking to boost their hopes of pushing into the Championship play-off picture by avenging the 4-0 defeat they suffered in the first meeting of the two sides in August. However, it was Sunderland that landed the first blow as Eliezer Mayenda fired them in front 11 minutes before half-time to mark his recall to the starting eleven in some style.

Wednesday hit back just three minutes after the restart with a goal from Callum Paterson - but Sunderland would not be denied and Mayenda doubled his tally with his sixth goal of the season to hand Regis Le Bris’ side a third win in their last four away games. The result has left Sunderland eight points adrift of the automatic promotion places - and their match-winner has admitted he remains confident they can still claim a top two finish before the end of the season.

When asked about his side’s promotion hopes, Mayenda told The Echo: “Really, I don't know. We will see. But I'm confident. I'm confident. Everybody's confident in the team. I think the fans too. Yeah, we can do everything. We can do everything. We need to fight in every game. We need to fight in every game to stay in a good team spirit and to believe. The most important thing is to believe in ourselves and keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing. We will see. But we have a really good team.”

But where are Sunderland predicted to finish this season as they now turn their attention towards a home double header with Cardiff City and Preston North End? We take a look at a predicted final Championship table provided by the stats experts at Opta.

Where are Sunderland predicted to finish in this season’s Championship?

1st. Leeds United - 99 points 2nd. Sheffield United - 92 points 3rd. Burnley - 91 points 4th. Sunderland - 83 points 5th. Coventry City - 70 points 6th. West Bromwich Albion - 69 points 7th. Blackburn Rovers - 67 points 8th. Middlesbrough - 66 points 9th. Bristol City - 65 points 10th. Watford - 64 points 11th. Norwich City - 64 points 12th. Sheffield Wednesday - 60 points 13th. Millwall - 60 points 14th. Preston North End - 60 points 15th. QPR - 57 points 16th. Swansea City - 54 points 17th. Portsmouth - 53 points 18th. Cardiff City - 50 points 19th. Oxford United - 50 points 20th. Hull City - 49 points 21st. Stoke City - 49 points 22nd. Plymouth Argyle - 43 points 23rd. Luton Town - 42 points 24th. Luton Town - 41 points