Adjusted Championship table that proves Sunderland are serious play-off contenders

The stats show that Sunderland may not be play-off outsiders after all.

Sunderland are currently on pace for the Championship play-offs, despite currently sitting seventh in the table.

The Black Cats have been largely on the periphery of the pack this season, which is still way above expectations given they were only promoted from League One in May.

That is even more remarkable given the spate of injuries with which they have had to contend this season. By the end of the season, top scorer Ross Stewart will have played around a quarter of the Championship games and captain Corry Evans is also out for the rest of the campaign.

However, going on the points-per-game metric, Sunderland are actually the sixth best team in the Championship this season so far, although only goal-difference separates them from Blackburn Rovers.

In addition, only the top three in the division, Burnley, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough, are scoring goals at a better rate than Sunderland, despite the absence of Stewart.

There are still 16 games to go and some very good sides such as Norwich and West Brom expected to make a serious challenge for the top six.

However, the PPG table really does highlight how well Sunderland have done so far and the strength of the progress that has been made over the last 12 months.

Championship PPG table

Played	PPG (Points per game)
Burnley	30	2.27
Sheffield United	30	2.03
Middlesbrough	31	1.65
Luton Town	30	1.63
Millwall	29	1.59
Sunderland	30	1.50
Blackburn	30	1.50
Watford	31	1.48
WBA	30	1.47
Norwich City	30	1.40
Preston	30	1.33
Hull	31	1.32
Bristol City	30	1.30
Coventry	30	1.30
Swansea	30	1.30
Birmingham	30	1.27
Reading	30	1.27
QPR	31	1.26
Stoke	30	1.13
Rotherham	30	1.10
Wigan	30	0.97
Cardiff	31	0.94
Huddersfield	30	0.93
Blackpool	30	0.93

Accurate as of 13 February 2023

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