NEWCASTLE United and Sunderland breathed a collective sigh of relief this evening as Wigan Athletic's 3-2 defeat to Swansea City enhanced the pair's chances of remaining in the Premier League.

Roberto Martinez's side are three points adrift of the North-East duo with just two games remaining after twice throwing away the lead at the DW Stadium.

With Wigan not in league action this weekend because of their participation in the FA Cup final, both Newcastle and Sunderland can take a giant step towards safety if they win their respective matches on Sunday.

Sunderland's superior goal difference means their survival will effectively be guaranteed if they see off Southampton at the Stadium of Light.

A Newcastle victory at QPR would leave Alan Pardew's side six points clear of Wigan, with a marginally better goal difference, and mean the Latics would be relegated if they failed to beat Arsenal at the Emirates next Tuesday.

Even if Newcastle were to draw at the weekend, Wigan would need to claim at least a point against Arsenal to keep their survival hopes alive.

There were times during tonight's game when it looked like Wigan would be plunging Newcastle into the bottom three, most notably when Roger Espinoza fired the home side into the lead in the closing stages of the first half.

Angel Rangel levelled for Swansea, but Wigan reclaimed the lead when James McCarthy hammered home in the 53rd minute.

However, some dreadful Wigan defending enabled Itay Shechter and Dwight Tiendalli to fire Swansea into a 3-2 lead that was rarely threatened despite a nervous nine minutes of stoppage time.