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Sunderland will try to end a run of seven games without a win or a goal on Saturday in the dispiriting knowledge that even beating West Ham can make little difference to their relegation-haunted plight.
With just six games to go after the Hammers' visit to the Stadium of Light, mathematical calculations no longer have meaning. David Moyes' side are 10 points short of fourth-bottom Hull City's tally of 30 points, making survival a forlorn dream.