Jamie Carragher disagrees as Gary Neville makes new Sunderland prediction
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have made their yearly Premier League predictions, with the duo already disagreeing on the fate of Sunderland.
Sunderland beat West Ham 3-0 on the opening day, with goals from Eliezer Mayenda, Dan Ballard, and Wilson Isidor giving The Stadium of Light its first Premier League points since 2017.
Captain Granit Xhaka earned plaudits for his impressive performance, with the midfielder just one of several new signings to arrive in the North East this summer.
Sunderland are looking to supply Regis Le Bris with further options before the window shuts, and have made an opening bid for Bologna defender Jhon Lucumi.
Jamie Carragher predicts Sunderland to go down
Expectations are high at The Stadium of Light for Le Bris’ Sunderland team this season.
The Black Cats finished 24 points behind their fellow promoted teams in the Championship last season, but have outspent both Leeds United and Burnley in the transfer market.
Xhaka is arguably the pick of the bunch to have arrived, but big-money moves for Habib Diarra and Simon Adingra, among others, have provided Le Bris with a squad capable of competing.
| Money spent | Summer Transfer Window 2025/26 | Money received |
| £141.9m | Sunderland | £41.7m |
| £107.8m | Burnley | £30m |
| £73.5m | Leeds United | £6.5m |
That did not stop Carragher predicting that Sunderland would be relegated at the end of the season, however.
The former Liverpool defender gave his predictions live on Sky Sports on Monday 18 August, and placed the Black Cats in his three to go down, alongside Wolves and Burnley.
Neville disagreed, choosing Leeds to go down instead of Sunderland and explaining: “I saw something on Saturday that was beyond just passion. I thought there was a physicality, a quality, to them, a strength.
“I thought that was a good performance.”
Sunderland have to block out the noise
Ultimately, Sunderland’s season will be defined by how they perform on the pitch, not what anyone else thinks looking from the outside in.
Le Bris must train his team to block out the external noise, whether that is good or bad, and focus on their fixtures.
Saturday’s performance already confirmed that Sunderland can compete in this league, but they must now prove that they can sustain that level throughout a season.
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