Sunderland find themselves in a deeply uncomfortable position: rubbing shoulders with European heavyweights while drowning at the foot of the Premier League table. A 3-1 defeat to Coventry City on Saturday left the Black Cats rooted to the bottom after nine games, extending a miserable run that stretches back to late August.

The contrast could hardly be starker. In the UEFA Europa League, Sunderland sit ninth — just outside the top eight that would earn automatic passage to the last-16 stage — with two wins and a draw from three outings. On the domestic front, they have collected only a single point from their three league games that followed European fixtures this term.

A schedule that leaves no room for error

Before their Europa League trip to face AC Milan at the San Siro on 10 December, Sunderland must navigate a brutal Premier League stretch: Chelsea at home, then away days at Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Newcastle United, plus Tottenham Hotspur at home. European home ties against Dinamo Zagreb and Jagiellonia Bialystok are also tucked into that run.

Should they fail to take points from those matches, Sunderland could be dangerously adrift by the time they land in Milan. That is why their league encounter with Nottingham Forest — just three days after the San Siro fixture — may prove more consequential than the glamour tie itself.

Xhaka's frustration laid bare