Danny Higginbotham suggests what may have given Sunderland greater chance of beating drop

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Sunderland have been relegated from the Premier League after an incredibly disappointing campaign.

Sunderland manager David Moyes

Danny Higginbotham has suggested to The Sun that having Victor Anichebe available more often may have given Sunderland a much greater chance of beating the drop this season.

David Moyes’ men have been relegated to the Championship after a number of years of narrowly beating the drop, with just five wins coming before their fate was sealed.

They have since secured another three points, denting Hull’s survival hopes in the process. And one player who surely has the best win rate in the entire Black Cats squad is Anichebe, who has played 17 times in the league this term, and has been on the winning side five times.

And Higginbotham has suggested that the 29-year-old’s influence may have proved pivotal if Moyes had been able to call upon the injury-prone forward more often.

Sunderland’s Victor Anichebe in action with Bournemouth’s Junior Stanislas

“In five of Sunderland’s six wins this season, Victor Anichebe has played. The striker has been injured a lot this term — but when I have seen them without him playing, there has been nobody on the pitch who has been able to stop Jermain Defoe from becoming isolated,” he told The Sun.

“Had he been available more, it would have made a difference.”

Sunderland’s Victor Anichebe in action with Hull City’s Lazar Markovic

While it seems unlikely that Anichebe’s presence would have bridged the current 11-point gap between Sunderland and safety – he has still been on the losing side 11 times in the league – there is no question that his inclusion in the team has made Moyes’ men look a lot more threatening going forward, with Anichebe and Jermain Defoe striking up a promising partnership.

And perhaps if he could have helped them to couple more wins, that would have given them a greater level of confidence, and thus, may have helped them to another couple of positive results that would have given them some hope heading into the final three games.