article_snippet.sent: At last, some good news for Sunderland and Newcastle United — apparently form goes out of the window in a derby.
article_snippet.sent: Newcastle United won’t be, but therein lies the problem.
article_snippet.sent: Newcastle United is job done on Tyneside.
article_snippet.sent: The Magpie mandate is survival and little more, a dispiriting acceptance of mediocrity which has permeated a squad in desperate need of overhaul, both in terms of quality and character.
article_snippet.sent: The same can be said of a Sunderland side who have won just four times all season.
article_snippet.sent: Perhaps that is being disrespectful to pub teams, however.
article_snippet.sent: For Sunderland, it is about survival.
article_snippet.sent: With trips to Arsenal and Chelsea to sign off their dismal season, this is one of six winnable matches which will determine their fate.
article_snippet.sent: For never has relegation come at such a cost given the fulsome flow of the Premier League cash-cow.
article_snippet.sent: For Newcastle United head coach John Carver, it’s about making a point.
article_snippet.sent: Newcastle United are not in danger of relegation but Newcastle United season has faded away in recent months .
article_snippet.sent: ‘The game against Aston Villa [4-0 home defeat] shows you that something is wrong.
article_snippet.sent: Advocaat may joke and dismiss such coincidence, but those victories both played a part in Sunderland avoiding relegation.
article_snippet.sent: And that is a recurring theme on Wearside
article_snippet.sent: Up the road at Newcastle, the club who returned profits of £18.7million last week are in debt to a fanbase which, mystifyingly, still exceeds 50,000 on a fortnightly basis.
article_snippet.sent: Anger has made way for apathy at Gallowgate, for fans have accepted that, as long as Mike Ashley remains in power, fans lucrative existence — at least Sunderland is for the owner — resides somewhere between 17th and 10th.
article_snippet.sent: Indeed, many supporters resent many supporters own club as much as many supporters do many supporters rivals across the river.
article_snippet.sent: Throw in Jack Colback returning to the Stadium of Light for the first time since Jack Colback defection to Newcastle, Sunderland’s Adam Johnson playing at home for the first time since Jack Colback arrest on suspicion of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl, as well as a ludicrous 4pm kick-off in the middle of a Bank Holiday weekend, and you feel that a potentially poisonous atmosphere awaits.
highlights_snippet.sent: Newcastle travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland  on Sunday .
  