Johnson calls shots for resurgent Black Cats

Fulham 1 Sunderland 4

For René Meulensteen, it was all a little more difficult to decipher. “Frustrating game,” the Craven Cottage boss lamented. “Even more so, frustrating result. I think a lot of people would see the scoreline, bloody hell, Fulham-Sunderland, 1-4, and think ‘what’s happened there?’.”

On the day, of course, Johnson happened. The Sunderland winger hit the first hat-trick of his career to secure a deserved win for Gus Poyet’s team. In the longer term, however, Meulensteen’s fair questions about this game reflects the utter chaos of this escalating relegation battle. The very fact a side as good as this improving Sunderland team remain rooted to the bottom sums it up.