The season in pictures - part 6

By Martin Walker

We continue our review of the 2007-08 season…

January

The New Year didn't get off to the best of starts as Sunderland went to Blackburn and lost on January 2.

Dean Whitehead missed a penalty before Rovers converted theirs at the other end, while Dwight Yorke was red-carded to rub salt into the wounds for the Black Cats.

Sunderland's misery only worsened three days later when they were dumped out of the FA Cup, in the third round, with a disappointing 3-0 defeat at home to Wigan.

But, within three games, Sunderland's plight improved dramatically with two wins - the first at home to Portsmouth, thanks to a brace by Kieran Richardson, and the second at home to Birmingham, with Daryl Murphy and new signing Rade Prica on the scoresheet.

The back-to-back home wins sandwiched a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham, but those six points saw Sunderland climb to relative safety - up to 14th in the table with 23 points.

Click here to see a picture gallery of January.

January results:

Blackburn (A) 0-1
Wigan (H) 0-3 (FA Cup R3)
Portsmouth (H) 2-0
Tottenham (A) 0-2
Birmingham (H) 2-0

League table at the end of January: