What Sunderland's promotion rivals are saying about a potentially pivotal weekend of fixtures

There is a crucial weekend lying in wait as Sunderland look to take what could be a decisive step towards claiming one of the four Championship play-off spots.

The action gets underway on Friday night when Middlesbrough travel to Blackburn Rovers knowing a win would take them into the top six. However, their hosts will also hope to keep their own promotion hopes alive as they sit on the fringes of the play-off races. Sunderland’s visit to West Brom brings two sides that are sat in the play-off places meet as the Black Cats prepare for a reunion with former manager Tony Mowbray.

Regis Le Bris and his players may well have one eye on events elsewhere as several of their promotion rivals face tough-looking fixtures. The top two both hit the road as leaders Sheffield United and second placed Leeds United head to Oxford United and Luton Town respectively and third placed Burnley travel to fifth placed Coventry City. To add further intrigue, Bristol City and Watford meet at Ashton Gate in a clash of two sides that will still hope to make a late push into the top six.

But what are the managers saying about the race for the Premier League and the challenges that lie in wait for them over the weekend?

What have Sunderland promotion rivals said about this weekend’s fixtures?

Chris Wilder - Sheffield United (away at Oxford United)

“We’re in a good spot. For us to be in this situation with Arblaster, Souttar…playing through long team injuries is a great achievement. It’s a fantastic tussle between three really big clubs in this division. It’ll need an almighty push from everyone. We’ve had to fight all season, I’ve had to fight for everything in my career, it’s not been given to us by a chequebook and we’ve earnt our success.”

Daniel Farke - Leeds United (away at Luton Town)

“We are Leeds, we never do it the easy way. No team does it the easy way to promote in this league. 46 gamedays. Even after the Sheffield game, there are so many games to play for. In this league, a difficult spell you can draw a game, if the other team is immaculate, you can drop points in comparison to them quite quickly. Sometimes if you play against West Bromwich Albion, third game in six days, you can be there with a draw. Difficult away game against QPR, 2-0 down, you have to live with a point. I was fully expecting this, hoping that we don’t score two own goals more or less and the point gap would be even better. It doesn’t surprise me and doesn’t make me happy but I’m not nervous - always expected it would be difficult.”

Scott Parker - Burnley (away at Coventry City)

“I'm excited, we are all excited. That's probably one of the biggest words we are constantly using in meetings every time I approach this team. We have gone into this season now with however many games we have played and we're operating in and around where we wanted to be. These seasons move very quickly and we are absolutely excited about where we have put ourselves, the race we are in, and we've done that through the quality we have, the hard work. Of course, early on in the season you are trying to develop certain things, a certain game model. There is probably more of a focus on that. But we have done a large bulk of our work. The main focus now is Coventry. We go there, we prep right this week and bring over the best version of ourselves to try and execute a game that we win, and that one's ticked off.”

Frank Lampard - Coventry City (home to Burnley)

“They are and their goals conceded record states that, they’ve done really well to do that, it’s not easy to keep clean sheets like they have done and concede so little, it’s great work from them. It’ll be a big challenge for us, it’s well documented in the Championship the parachute teams that come down from the Premier League and some of the attributes they have as teams, physical and technical. We are more of a developing team because we don’t have that Premier League experience, so it’s a great challenge for us at an important part of the season when we have the home crowd behind us, so we have to prepare and believe we can get the result that we want but understand that it is going to be very tough.”

Tony Mowbray - West Bromwich Albion (home to Sunderland)

“We know the challenge that lies ahead of us and we need to be up for it. We think we’re a good side that can go and win football matches and hopefully we can show that on Saturday, and plenty of other times before the season is finished. We were frustrated last weekend, but that’s gone now. We have seven remaining matches and we need to make sure that we’re getting better results than the teams around us. We are completely focused on what we need to do and we know what is required of us. Three points on Saturday would be the perfect way to respond and the perfect way to make our fans happy.”

Michael Carrick - Middlesbrough (away to Blackburn Rovers)

"I don't think it's a good time to play them, it's just the next time. There is no way we look at things outside of this building for a helping hand. We need to look at ourselves and concentrate on what we can do to perform. Whatever is going on around other clubs is not for us to worry about. The game will take care of itself and we have to be at our best to deal with that. It's an easy one to say, but every game we want to score first and start well, get the first goal. It's important, of course it is. Certain games towards the end of the season, when it gets to this stage, you want to get every inch you can. From the start, it's important. We have to finish games strong too. Whether that's changes from the bench or adapting. We have to manage games in different ways and find a way to win.”

Liam Manning - Bristol City (home to Watford)

“It's what it's about. Approaching a game that makes you really hungry to be in football. It's a very significant game for both clubs, we understand that. It’s two good footballing teams and I'm really excited for the challenge that lies ahead. It's not over until it's mathematically over. But this game is very significant for us, especially after not winning the last home game. It puts even more on this that we must go and win. And we'll be doing everything we possibly can to do so.”

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