The twist, of course, is that it is Sunderland challenging for continental competition while Tottenham desperately try to safeguard their Premier League status. On this evidence, there might well be more chance of the Black Cats needing their passports next season than Spurs avoiding a trip to Lincoln City.
Can Regis Le Bris’ side really secure European football in the remaining six games? Why not? As things stand, the top seven finishers are likely to be guaranteed a European place of some description and Sunderland’s latest success of a truly remarkable campaign has taken them to within a point of seventh-placed Brentford.
They’re certainly much better placed than Spurs, qualifiers for the knockout stages of the Champions League in the first half of the season, but now a side who find themselves staring into the abyss. This was hardly the ideal start for new boss Roberto de Zerbi.
Sunderland were the better side throughout, and while Nordi Mukiele’s 61st-minute winner might have come courtesy of a huge slice of fortune, with the full-back’s shot taking a massive deflection off Micky van de Ven, the Black Cats’ endeavour, commitment and physical aggression made them worthy winners.
Not for the first time this season, an opposition side left the Stadium of Light battered and bruised. And cursing the all-round excellence of Granit Xhaka as well as the defensive resolve of an equally-impressive Omar Alderete.
As has been the case for much of the campaign, Sunderland defended superbly throughout, with the return of Mukiele and Reinildo Mandava to the full-back positions helping neuter a Spurs side that looked anything but transformed by the arrival of de Zerbi.
Starting the day in the bottom three, Spurs needed to win, but while Pedro Porro and Richarlison both fired tame early efforts straight at Roefs, it did not take Sunderland long to establish an impressive degree of control over proceedings.
As ever, the dictatorial presence of Xhaka at the heart of midfield was the key to the Black Cats wresting control of the game, with the former Arsenal skipper ensuring everyone around him played at his tempo. How de Zerbi must wish he had a similarly effective leader within his own ranks.
With Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki supplying the energy to complement Xhaka’s zen-like presence at the heart of things, the home side gradually started to create chances.
Brian Brobbey, serenaded throughout thanks to his derby heroics, headed over from the edge of the six-yard box after Enzo Le Fee delivered a teasing cross from the left, before another inviting cross from the Frenchman saw Mukiele head over after he had ghosted into space at the back post.
Brobbey forced a decent save out of Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in first-half stoppage time, with Roefs making a similarly important stop from Dominic Solanke at the other end moments later, but the key talking point of the first half came 20 minutes or so earlier when referee Rob Jones threatened to hand Spurs what would have been an undeserved opener.
A quick free-kick briefly caught the Sunderland defence napping, but while Randal Kolo Muani went tumbling as he burst between Alderete and a sliding Luke O’Nien, it was clear that neither centre-half had touched the winger. Jones initially pointed to the spot, but a VAR check resulted in him swiftly reversing his decision.
The referee seemed to be guessing for most of the afternoon, particularly when Brobbey tussled with the equally-physical Cristian Romero, and there was a general tetchiness to proceedings that meant the game always had an edge.
Clear-cut chances remained at something of a premium though, so when Sunderland eventually broke the deadlock shortly after the hour mark, it was hardly a surprise that their breakthrough strike arrived courtesy of a huge slice of luck.
Mukiele deserves credit for the purposeful way in which he strode infield from the right touchline, but his 20-yard strike would almost certainly not have troubled Kinsky had it not taken a huge deflection off van de Ven’s foot. The Spurs goalkeeper was wrong-footed as a result, with the ball flying into the opposite side of the net to where his dive was taking him. As de Zerbi will no doubt attest, when your luck’s out, everything tends to conspire against you.
As if to underline the point, Spurs’ skipper, Romero, was forced off in tears with 20 minutes remaining after a collision with his own goalkeeper. By then, though, the game was already up.