Tainio is keen to make a point

May 14 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

TEEMU Tainio believes Sunderland might need another point before their Premier League status for next season is assured – and the Finnish midfielder is not prepared to wait until the final day of this campaign to get it.

With two matches left – at Portsmouth on Monday and at home to Chelsea the following Sunday – Sunderland are on 36 points, two more than Hull City and Newcastle United.

After much talk in the second half of the season of 40 points being needed to be sure of avoiding relegation, Tainio now suspects 37 might do it.

The last few weeks have been littered with games billed as “must-win” but if the former Tottenham Hotspur player is right, Monday’s televised trip to the south coast will not fall into that category.

Not that the 29-year-old is by any means certain.

“Can we get away without winning it? It’s a good question,” he said.

“I think we will still need one point but it’s very hard to predict because it’s been a very strange season. Hull started so well and now they’re below us.”

Uppermost in many minds at the Stadium of Light is the calibre of their final-day opponents. Not since December 2001 have the Black Cats avoided defeat against Chelsea, so they would much prefer their fate to be resolved in advance.

Were Hull to lose to Liverpool at the weekend, a draw would leave them needing a goal difference miracle to send Sunderland down. The only combination of results which would

guarantee the Wearsiders’ safety on Monday is an away win, coupled with Hull and Newcastle (who entertain Fulham) failing to claim three points.

If the Magpies won on Saturday and Hull did likewise on Sunday, Sunderland would drop into the relegation zone, proof that there is no room for complacency.

“We can’t rely on beating Chelsea in the last game, so we need to make sure we get something from Portsmouth,” Tainio admitted.

“We are definitely not safe yet. There’s only two points between us and the relegation zone.”