Derby days are back! – All eyes on June 18th as Sunderland return to the Premier League

Sunderland are finally back in the Premier League.

After a long wait for promotion and spells in League One just a few years ago, the Mackems are back in the big time for the first time since 2016/17.

In today’s play-off final at Wembley, Sunderland went 1-0 down to Sheffield United early on and lost centre-back Luke O’Nien to injury in the opening minutes.

However, late goals from Eliezer Mayenda and Tom Watson – who scored in injury time – completed the comeback, putting all eyes on June 18th (9am) for our Tyne and Wear derby dates when the fixtures for next season are announced.

Confirmed 2025/26 Premier League line up

With Leeds and Burnley promoted via automatic promotion, Sunderland have now completed next season’s Premier League line up after Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich were all relegated.

  1. Arsenal
  2. Aston Villa
  3. Bournemouth
  4. Brentford
  5. Brighton
  6. Burnley
  7. Chelsea
  8. Crystal Palace
  9. Everton
  10. Fulham
  11. Leeds
  12. Liverpool
  13. Man City
  14. Man Utd
  15. Newcastle
  16. Nottingham Forest
  17. Sunderland
  18. Tottenham
  19. West Ham
  20. Wolves

Gulf in class will show

Sunderland’s return may be great for the North East, but I fully expect the gulf in class to show when they come back to the Premier League.

We battered them at the Stadium of Light last January and we’ve only improved since then, with the gap between the Premier League and Championship only becoming wider since Sunderland were last in the top flight.

Bring it on!

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

4 thoughts on “Derby days are back! – All eyes on June 18th as Sunderland return to the Premier League

  1. Aye it’ll be great for one season, then they can get back down where they belong.
    Never forgiven them for the stick we got when they beat us in the playoffs.

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  2. Great for the north hopefully Boro can join next season .. and easy 6 pointers for the Mags .. hopefully

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