My big Premier League predictions and how I think Sunderland will fare

Maybe cautious optimism would be the best way to describe the mood around Sunderland ahead of the new Premier League season.

- by Phil Smith

There's no doubt that this is a city and a fan base bullish about the trajectory both of its team and its club more generally, back in the big time after eight long and often very painful years away.

The club's recruitment drive has been more ambitious and gone further than anyone had anticipated, over £120 million spent and still a little left to do.

Sunderland will unsurprisingly be dismissed as relegation fodder by most neutrals, with sides promoted from the Championship increasingly finding the odds stacked firmly against them.