Sunderland are looking for a swift return to winning ways after a troublesome few weeks sees the club down in 12th ahead of a meeting with Luton Town at the Stadium of Light with the Hatters coming into this one now up into fourth in the Championship.
Just like last season, it is turning out to be a sensational campaign for Luton. Last time out, the club crept into the playoff spots by finishing on 75 points from 46 games where they scored 63 times and let in 55 goals. Now, however, they are on 63 points with nine games left to play and have let in just 34 goals all season long - only Sheffield United and Burnley have conceded fewer.
In fact, if Luton were not to make it into the playoffs after such a fantastic run of form this season, it would turn out to be an almighty crash.
Carlton Morris was the hero once again for Luton in the last game, as he scored the winning goal after four minutes at home to Bristol Rovers.
It means the club have no extended their unbeaten run to five games since losing to Burnley midway through February, as the club have defeated Birmingham City, drawn with Millwall, beat Swansea City and even managed to defeat Sheffield United on the road in what was arguably their best win of the season before their recent victory over Bristol.
The Hatters have now kept four clean sheets in their past five games too and sit behind Middlesbrough in the table by just one point and also above Norwich City in seventh by seven points to give them a lot of breathing space in the playoff ranks.
As for Sunderland, they lost to the Blades on Wednesday night after Edouard Michut's first half goal was cancelled out in a 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats now sit in 12th and behind Watfoerd in 10th by two points with no more games in hand to be played for anyone in the league. Worse yet, Sunderland are sitting behind Millwall in sixth by eight points and it seems as if their playoff dreams are fading rapidly.
