Kevin Phillips has pinpointed Charlie Wyke and Aiden McGeady to make the difference tonight as the Black Cats take on Portsmouth.
Sunderland have picked up an impressive 16 points from the last 18 available and head to Fratton Park full of confidence.
In contrast, Portsmouth have won just once in their last six games.
Speaking to SkySports, Phillips said: "I think they've hit form at the right time. The right form at the right time.
"There's 14 games to go and they're looking really good considering it's been an up and down season.
"When you get to this stage of the season you want players to find form and they've certainly got that in Charlie Wyke and Aiden McGeady.
"For me he's the best player in the league by far [McGeady].
"They're hitting the right form and it looks like Lee [Johnson] has settled, he rotated it a lot when he first went in.
"Now it looks like he's got a style of play over to the players and he's pretty much picking the same team week in week odd with the odd change here and there so consistency levels are good."
You can follow all the action from Fratton Park in our live blog right here.
