Who will go down? Hull City or Newcastle United?

Its the last day of the Premier League tomorrow and with most things sorted out near the top of the table, the focus turns to relegation.

It's two down, and one of the remaining two to go. So who will it be? Is your money in Hull City to stay up by beating Man Utd at home? Or do you think that Newcastle United can match Hull's result and stay up?

Current form would suggest that both teams lose, which would be good enough for Newcastle.

With last week's home draw with Arsenal, Manchester United will finish fourth, so they don't have a great deal to play for. I think that Fellaini's mid-season form has tailed off and LVG's reliance on Falcao and Van Persie up front leaves a forward line without pace. I've got a feeling that Hull will make a game of this, defend as if their lives depended in it and may sneak a win from a set-piece goal.

I'm not really that sure about the commitment of Sam Allardyce or a West Ham at the moment. Reports suggest that Big Sam will be out of a job by Monday and that some if the first team haven't trained this week. I think that after a rough time by Newcastle's fans and owner when he was on charge, it would please Sam to put one over the Toon and help out his mate Steve Bruce in the process.

I'm going for a Newcastle win here, because I think that West Ham have given up this season and injuries have left then with a threadbare defence.

If the scenarios above play out as I've predicted then it will be Hull City back in the Championship and Newcastle United to survive and start the rebuilding that sorely needs to happen.

My hopes for Sunderland's team next season

Assuming that we keep the same formation that we've played for the last two seasons (4-5-1 when defending, 4-3-3 when attacking) then this is the team I'd like to see us put together for the start of next season-

Pantillimon

NEW Right Back

Van Aanholt

NEW Centre Back

NEW Centre Back

Cattermole

Larsson

Rodwell

Defoe

Giaccherini or Adam Johnson

NEW Attacking Left Midfielder

In terms of the changes, some are players I don't see as having a future with the club and others are players that I only see as back up to the first team. For instance - Billy Jones and Steven Fletcher fit into the second category, Wes Brown and Connor Whickham fit into the first.

There is still the fact that the club haven't found a manager yet, but I believe that Lee Congerton should be looking at sounding out targets and getting the obvious gaps in out squad filled. Dick Advocaat reported to Congerton, Byrne and Short that the squad needs quality first team players, and I'd look at the following solutions-

Steven Caulker from QPR as a ball-winning centre half. He's a threat from attacking corners and has more pace than O'Shea or Brown.

Sebastian Coates from Liverpool as his central defensive partner. I think we saw enough from Coates during the run in to think that he can do a respectable job for us, on the basis that the transfer fee and wage demands aren't too high.

OR

Johnny Evans who has been told he's surplus to requirements at Man Utd. He's got form for Sunderland and would complement a Caulker-type centre back well.

Leroy Fer from QPR was one of the very few bright spots in their season and I think he's a quality player with Premier League experience at two clubs (although with 2 relegations under his belt.) He could play in one of the wide roles or in central midfield and scores a few as well.

Kieran Trippier looked solid defensively and reasonable going forward for Burnley last season. If the bookies are correct and Sean Dyche becomes manager then maybe he could persuade Trippier to come to us. I think he's better than Billy Jones, although Jones did end the season well and I'd keep him in the squad.

I've made the attacking right midfielder role in my team as shared between Giaccherini and Adam Johnson as I think Johnson may miss some of the season and Giaccherini's injury record is atrocious.

Any additions to this wish list would be in a loan basis from one of the big clubs. I'd live to take Patrick Bamford from Chelsea, Danny Wellbeck from Arsenal and either Adnan Januzaj or James Wilson from Manchester United. 

Sunderland v Southampton

I went to the match in Saturday, and I thought us wait a few days for the relative euphoria to die down before giving an honest assessment of how I thought it went and what I think it means for the rest of the season.

The build up

I wasn't going to go. I'd looked at the idea earlier in the week and decided against it. Then in Friday night I started to think that perhaps I wouldn't have many opportunities to see us in the Premier League for a while and perhaps I should go. I looked on Stub Hub and there was a ticket for a good seat - 15 rows back, half way line opposite the dugouts - for only £13. I'll have it. Still slept in it and waited until Saturday morning to buy.

There were problems on the Metro so it seemed to take forever to get there, but there was a positive atmosphere in and around the stadium. Collected my ticket, bought a programme, had a wee, got a cup of tea and now I'm ready for the contest to begin.

Danny Graham is starting, Coated preferred to Vergini and Johnson back on the bench.

The match

Overall I think we were second best. I've watched us too many times this season where we stand off the opposition and give them time to pick a pass in our own half. The best defensive display I've seen this season is where we got into the faces of Chelsea - one of only two teams this season so far to have kept a clean sheet against them. I know it takes a lot of effort and concentration to produce a display like that week after week. And we probably need a bigger and deeper squad than we have to produce it. It worried me on Saturday 11 v 11 and even worried me after the sending off. It's all well and good having a set, structured "two lines of four" to prepare for the oncoming attack, but unless there is some pressure on the ball, this tactic will fail.

The effort levels looked much better than in previous games this season - and better than our rivals in black and white up the road.

Seb Larsson showed he's a class act and seems to care about the club. His effort and enthusiasm is contagious and he always seems to get the best out of his midfield colleagues. Danny Graham ran his heart out for the cause and was rewarded with a whack in the face, the penalty award and man of the match. The enigma that is Connor Whickham continues. If it wasn't for a fan about 10 rows to the right of me keeping him in check, he probably wouldn't have tracked Nathaniel Clyne back as much as he should. He can run with the ball and beat men regularly but when he gets to the edge of the box and needs to make a decision he falters.

The run-in

The question is "can we stay up?"

I think that the answer is "no." But I'm not worried. There seems to be a core of players at the club that don't care about the club and are only in it for the money. Relegation will, hopefully, clear these out of the club and we can start afresh, a little like the way Southampton have done.