"Nailed on for" - Sunderland promotion prediction issued | OneFootball

The Black Cats have made an excellent start to the 2024/25 campaign and are in with a shout of promotion.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Few would have predicted Sunderland's meteoric start to the Championship season, with Regis Le Bris' team setting the pace throughout the first few months.

The Black Cats are currently top of the table, ahead of Sheffield United on goal difference, and there is a lot of excitement building at the Stadium of Light after a very underwhelming 2023/24.

Le Bris' young side have taken like ducks to water since the campaign began at the start of August, and while they may be on a three-game run without a win, they remain difficult to beat, drawing all three of those matches.

The international break came at an excellent time for Sunderland, and supporters will be looking forward to their team returning to league action against Millwall on Saturday at The Den, in a very difficult clash.

However, it cannot be understated just how impressive the North East club have been in the opening 15 games of the season, setting them up for a battle for automatic promotion.

Prediction made on Sunderland's final position

While Burnley and Leeds United were perhaps favourites for the league title before a ball had been kicked, the Black Cats have shown how important consistency in front of goal is.

They are currently the top scorers in the Championship and it has helped them to lead the way early on but there will be questions over whether they can keep this up should the goals start to dry up.

It's a start that was perhaps beyond Sunderland supporters' wildest dreams, including Football League World's fan pundit, Jack Austwicke, who has been asked where he believes his team will finish this season.

He told FLW: "It's so hard to say because I think the league is a good standard right now. Obviously, we're currently top. Whether we'll stay there or not, that's another question.

"It's really, really going to be hard to maintain that for the full season. But I think we're pretty much nailed on for the top six, I'd say at this point in the season."

Jack continued: "I know we're not a great deal in, but I think we’re enough in to know that we're going to be up there, unless we have some dramatic fall off and something really, really bad happens to the club. But I think for now we're good. We're in a solid position, it's going well.

"If we can keep it up, we can definitely see ourselves in the top six and hopefully promoted. I'd really, really love to see us in the top two."

Sunderland will be hoping to right some of their recent wrongs

The last few weeks have been a lot more awkward for Sunderland than how they started, registering draws against three sides all towards the bottom of the Championship.

It's been a relatively frustrating period, but the timing of the final international break of 2024 came at the optimum time for the Black Cats, and the period of rest for some of the squad members could just give them the opportunity to ready themselves ahead of the busy Christmas schedule.

The next couple of months will dictate where Sunderland's battle lies, and if they get through to January still within touching distance of the top two, then you'd back them to compete all the way until May.