By last season’s metrics Sunderland are now safe from relegation. Leicester went down in 18th place last time round with a point fewer than Sunderland’s current tally of 26. We are not yet at Christmas and as such that is some achievement – whatever happens now – for Regis Le Bris and his players.
But this was not about any of that. This was not about such pragmatic and conservative notions. This was not about survival. This was about victory, Sunderland’s seventh in the Premier League this season and their first over Newcastle for more than ten years.