Roy Keane's men will have their work cut out for them against Manchester United. Photo / Reuters
Who would have thought Ol' Purple face would be, apparently, under pressure after four Premiership games?
And who would have predicted Sunderland would have started so well?
What beautiful but false dawns.
Roy Keane returns to Old Trafford hoping his Sunderland side does not experience a nightmare afternoon
at the Theatre of Dreams.
But after a good start with a win against Tottenham and a draw with Birmingham, Sunderland are on a downward slide culminating in a horrible 3-0 defeat at third division Luton Town in the League Cup this week.
And it appears Keane has reacted with the tried, tested-and-usually-failed method of panic-buying.
In has come Kenwyne Jones from Southampton, Danny Higginbotham from Stoke City and Ian Harte from the wilderness for a total cost of around 9 million pounds ($26.02 million).
United, on the other hand, are unlikely to play Wayne Rooney, but are still likely to walk off the pitch with a comfortable victory.
While United have started the season slowly, some have (admittedly, tentatively) questioned Ferguson.
But after a win against Spurs, United will be scoring for fun against Sunderland, which will be a trigger for them to begin getting back towards the top and see Sunderland spiralling further down.
I still believe Keane's Sunderland will have enough over the season to avoid the drop.
And I have absolutely no doubt that Ferguson, who has been in tight squeezes before, will have his team challenging for the top.
