SAM ALLARDYCE has told his Sunderland players he does not want an Easter miracles this season. He wants a Christmas miracle instead - starting on Boxing Day at Manchester City.
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| Sam Allardyce is praying for a Christmas miracle with Sunderland facing Manchester on Boxing Day |
Allardyce says Sunderland's tally of 12 points is three less than he expected at this stage of the season.
Defeat at the Etihad would leave them in danger of being cast adrift at the foot of the table alongside Aston Villa and he said: "We don't want to wait for the miracle. We need to do it now.
"I don't want us to be in a position where we have to win four of the last six games. Those miracles can't keep happening.
"That's my message to the players: 'Don't leave yourself in that position again because I might not be able to avoid it and you might not be able to avoid it this time'. "The law of averages is telling us that."
Manuel Pellegrini is praying Vincent Kompany is finally over his nightmare calf injury, for the sake of City's title hopes.
Defender Kompany is set to return today after missing 16 of the last 20 games in all competitions.
City have failed to keep a clean sheet without their skipper and Pellegrini said: "Vincent has had a long recovery. We hope that he will not have more problems in the future.
"It is very difficult to know if he will have them or not but we are going to be optimistic and hope we can have the captain for the rest of the season.
"Vincent is the captain of the team. You cannot be the captain of an important team if you are not an important player. You have performance, you must be a leader, you have personality, you have a lot of different things. We need Vincent."
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