No cup excuses if Sunderland drop

SUNDERLAND fully deserve their first trip to Wembley since 1992 and they should enjoy every minute of the Capital One Cup final. In no way, though, should their progress in this competition be used as an excuse for the position they currently occupy in the Premier League table — and if they end up being relegated in May, they should not compare themselves to either Birmingham or Wigan. Birmingham, of course, went down in 2011 after dramatically winning the League Cup. But when they beat Arsenal at Wembley, they had two games in hand on their relegation rivals and were just one win away from going 10th in the table. Complacency — they took just nine points from the final 12 games — led to Birmingham’s season unravelling. Wigan’s situation was different as all their high-pressure games came at the end of last season and eventually it became emotionally and physically draining; remember, they played in the FA Cup final four days before they had to go to Arsenal and win to stand any chance of surviving. Sunderland, by contrast, will have plenty of time after the March 2 final to try to save their top-flight status. A team who have beaten Manchester City and Everton in the Premier League, and knocked Manchester United and Chelsea out of the Capital One Cup, clearly have the talent to stay up. If they fail to do that, they will only have themselves to blame because they shouldn’t have any other distraction.