Sunderland's paradox - San Siro trip amid relegation battle

When Sunderland were handed a trip to the San Siro to face AC Milan in the Europa League, they must have been relishing the chance to rub shoulders with such heavyweights.

Yet by the time they travel to Italy to take on the Serie A giants on 10 December, they may be more concerned about the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest that comes just three days later.

That is because last season's surprise package following promotion are now one of this campaign's strugglers.

They may be mixing it with illustrious big guns in Europe, but they are staring down the barrel of a relegation fight on the domestic front.

Their 3-1 defeat by Coventry City on Saturday has kept Sunderland rock bottom of the table after nine games.

Their situation could worsen significantly very soon, too.

Before they head to Milan, they face a daunting league programme of Chelsea (home), Aston Villa (away), Tottenham (home), Liverpool (away) and local rivals Newcastle (away), with home European games against Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb and Poland's Jagiellonia Bialystok thrown into the mix.

If they fail to cause some upsets in that run and others towards the bottom of the table pick up points, the Black Cats could be dangerously adrift before their dream trip to Milan.

That is why their game against fellow slow starters Forest could turn out to be more important than the San Siro date.

The last time Sunderland won a Premier League game was against Fulham on 30 August - two days after the Europa League league phase draw, and a visit to Milan, was confirmed.

While celebrating that victory and scouring for flights and hotels for their European adventure, surely Sunderland fans did not expect they would be heading into November having not won since in the league.

Including an opening-weekend defeat by Ipswich, they have suffered six defeats with two draws.

"Very disappointed," said captain Granit Xhaka following the Coventry loss.

"We are not doing the things that we have been speaking about; we are not doing the things that we are doing in training. Again, so many mistakes. We have no chance to win any games like this."

Yet in Europe, all is well for the Black Cats.

They are ninth in that table, with only goal difference keeping them out of the top eight and a passage directly to the last-16 stage. They have two wins and a draw from their three games.

And in the Carabao Cup, a 3-2 win over Brentford in midweek has set up a quarter-final against fellow league strugglers Crystal Palace.

Yet they have picked up just a point in their three league games that have followed European outings this season, while this defeat against Coventry came on the back of the midweek victory over the Bees in the EFL Cup.

"Football isn't one day good, one day bad," said Xhaka.

"We didn't have [European football] last season. When we lost once last season we came back, but we are doing so many simple mistakes, and if you do mistakes in this league you get punished.

"And we are getting punished every weekend. I don't know exactly what the problem is. Is it concentration, is it other things?

"Of course, we are now bottom of the league, but in football you need to think positive. You need to show courage even if you make mistakes when you play, but that's not the case at the moment."

The obvious difference this season so far for Sunderland is their leaky defence.

Last term, they had the fourth meanest back line in the division with only champions Arsenal, Manchester City and Brighton conceding fewer goals.

So far this term, only Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace have let in more than Sunderland.

After just nine games last term, Sunderland had won five, drawn two and lost two with just seven goals conceded.

Now they have already had 17 goals against them in nine matches. It took 15 games to get to that number last season.

In Europe, they have conceded just two goals in three games.

They have now made seven errors which have led to goals conceded, with Coventry's opening two on Saturday down to a failure to deal with a cross and then Luke O'Nien losing possession to Taiwo Awoniyi in the build-up to the second.

"Bad result," Sunderland boss Regis le Bris told BBC's Match of the Day.

"Ups and downs, I think, is the summary of this game and the season so far. We can play good football, and create some good chances, but we also made many unforced errors.

"At this level, especially in the Premier League, the opponent can seize every single opportunity, and [Coventry] did that. It's not a question of luck, it's a question of us."