Sunderland boss Gus Poyet sees the 40 point mark as the total to ensure Premier League survival. Sunderland are currently 19th place in the table, but are only a point adrift of safety and have at least two games in hand on all their closest rivals.
He said: "Last week, I was with a few people talking about it and the week before, and you talk to the managers and maybe they check more than me who is playing against who, who can win and if they win this...
"I don't do that. I cannot kill myself mentally to think if it's 40, 39, 38, 37 (points needed)... I don't know.
"Me, I always believe that the closer you get to 40, the more chance you have of staying up. Then if there are three teams who don't reach 30, great, we need 31."
