Black Cats on brink of narrowing gap to rivals

NINE YEARS SINCE A TYNE-WEAR DERBY IN TOP FLIGHT...ITS RETURN IS LONG OVERDUE

- By ROSS GREGORY Head of sport

THE talk about the potential return of the Tyne-Wear derby is already in full swing ahead of Sunderland’s huge Championship play-off clash with Sheffield United tomorrow.

Regis Le Bris' side have upset the odds to move one step away from a return to the Premier League. With a squad built largely on youth, and with very little spent, they have gone toe to toe with big-spending sides in the Championship all season.

Now, just 90 minutes stands between them and a return to the top flight, from where they slipped in 2017.

That same season, Newcastle were heading in the opposite direction. Having suffered their own relegation 12 months earlier, they'd bounced back at the first attempt under Rafa Benitez. One going down, one coming up.

With Sunderland’s demise into League One and Newcastle's subsequent takeover by one of the richest funds in the world, the gap suddenly seemed huge.

By tomorrow night, though, it could be substantially narrowed.