Premier League 2015/16 preview: Sunderland have bought well but home form crucial to survival

Jermain Defoe is set to spearhead the underland attack again this season. Carl Recine / Reuters

With the 2015/16 English Premier League season a matter of weeks away, Richard Jolly provides his thoughts on each of the 20 teams and predicts their final league finish. Here he looks at Sunderland.

Sunderland seasons have settled into a damaging pattern of overspending and underachievement, alleviated only by derby wins, and they invariably resort to regime change to prevent relegation.

Dick Advocaat initially saw himself as a short-term saviour who would then retire. Sunderland then persuaded the Dutchman to stay for a further season. Advocaat’s pragmatism entailed using Jermain Defoe as an ersatz full-back in Sunderland’s surge to safety.

Now a more progressive approach should be implemented, not least because Sunderland’s football in recent years has often been uninspired. The Netherlands international Jeremain Lens represents a high-class addition; given Sunderland’s miserable total of 31 goals last season, he and the January arrival Defoe ought to render them more prolific, though it will help if Steven Fletcher rediscovers his goal touch.

At the other end of the pitch, the signings of Sebastian Coates and Younes Kaboul reflect the over-reliance on the ageing centre-backs Wes Brown and John O’Shea. Lee Cattermole’s new five-year deal is a sign of his importance in midfield, but if Sunderland are to become more watchable and proficient, the gifted but frustrating pair of Jack Rodwell and Emanuele Giaccherini will have to deliver more.

It is crucial, too, that Sunderland improve at home. Their long-suffering fans deserve more than four wins on their own turf.

Key man: Jermain Defoe — A rather strange Sunderland career has brought a mere four goals in 16 games, but that includes a spectacular derby winner and frequent defensive duties. This season, perhaps, Sunderland will see one of the best poachers of his generation.

Pivotal signing: Jeremain Lens — The Dutchman offers the promise of goals from the flanks. Sunderland have a poor record in the transfer market in recent years, especially when buying big. Lens may change that.

Crucial factor: Start as they finish. Sunderland won four of their last five games in 2013/14. They took 12 points from their final eight matches last season. In both cases, they passed a test of character. Yet for much of those seasons, they have hovered around, or less than, a point a game. That form has got them into relegation trouble.

Prediction: 15th

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