For Sunderland, the new year brought some big early successes: two draws at home to City and away at Tottenham. Mind you, given the state of Tottenham at the minute, the latter seems much less impressive. Regardless though, it was a strong start to January, a continuation of the excellent form the Black Cats found themselves in across the latter half of 2025. Unfortunately for the Mackems, despite initially holding up under the squad strain of AFCON, the tournament eventually took its toll. Nowhere was this more evident than in their 3-0 dismantling by Brentford, with Noah Sadiki being sorely missed in midfield. Since this loss, Sunderland have been up and down, hampered by a brief injury to their captain and cornerstone Granit Xhaka. He’s back now, but Sunderland’s patchy form continues – no longer unbeaten at home since their 1-0 loss to Liverpool, they lost again to Fulham in a particularly uninspiring home display. Despite this varied form, they sit 11 points above relegation, with a 99.5% survival chance according to Opta (at the time of writing). Sunderland fans certainly won’t sniff at that.
Like Sunderland, Leeds started their new year with key draws to Man United and Liverpool – but unlike Sunderland, their form has stayed more on the positive side – a continuation of their December successes. Crucially, they picked up a massive win against Forest to swing momentum firmly in their direction and propel them further away from relegation. As of recently, draws with high-flying Villa and turbulent Chelsea put Leeds on 31 points – 6 points above 18th placed West Ham and with a 97.82% survival rate according to Opta. Things are good, but Leeds will still want to make their safety certain. Momentum is a volatile thing, after all.
Like Sunderland, Leeds started their new year with key draws to Man United and Liverpool – but unlike Sunderland, their form has stayed more on the positive side
Burnley started 2026 in similar fashion to Sunderland and Leeds, big draws at big clubs in January (Spurs, Liverpool, and Man United). In February, however, things have been more mixed, with a comeback win at Crystal Palace sandwiched between an embarrassing loss to Mansfield in the FA Cup and a damning defeat to relegation rivals West Ham. Bundle these lows in with their dismal start to the season, and you get a near-certain relegation occupying The Clarets’ future. Their fate was almost entirely sealed by the end of 2025, and it has not been ‘new year, new Burnley’ by any stretch of the imagination. They seem doomed to yet another season of yo-yoing to the championship and back.
To summarise: Sunderland took a wobble, Burnley condemned themselves to near-certain doom, and Leeds clawed their way up the table and away from the looming threat of relegation. When we look back at the end of the season, who knows just how crucial these months will come to be?