DUBAI // Sunderland captain John O’Shea says they need to win a minimum of five matches before the end of the season to guarantee their Premier League survival.
Sam Allardyce’s side, currently in Dubai for some warm-weather training, enter the final 12 matches of the campaign second-bottom in the table, albeit one point from safety.
Recent results have suggested a turnaround in form, though, with Sunderland improving on a fine display in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City earlier this month by coming back from two goals down to draw at Liverpool four days later. On Saturday, they recorded a 2-1 victory against Manchester United at the Stadium of Light.
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Sunderland return from Dubai this weekend to put in the final preparations for their trip to an in-form West Ham United on February 27, where they will seek to continue their climb from the relegation zone.
O’Shea, one of the club’s most experienced players, said the squad realise what is required of them as they come into the season’s closing stretch.
“Ultimately now it’s down to results,” the defender said. “We had a fantastic performance against City and got zero points, then against Liverpool were not so good and got one point. Then we’d a very good performance against United and got three. We fully deserved the win.
“We have 12 games left, we more than likely need five or six wins, so we know what it’ll take.”
Sunderland narrowly avoided relegation last season to eventually finish 16th, but with five points now separating them and Bournemouth in 15th place, they know successive victories will help them close the gap on those teams above.
The past three matches have only reinforced the belief within the club that they will stay up.
“Hopefully it shows that like the last few years we’re fighting really hard to stay in the Premier League,” O’Shea said. “That’s ultimately where you want to be as a player, playing in the Premier League against the top teams, and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do again.
“What we know is that we have a lot more work to do. The big thing is there’s no looking back. Yes, we’re in an OK run of form, but we’ve a big test. West Ham had a good comeback themselves at Norwich after being 2-0 down, so we know we’ll have a big test. But with the manager going back to his old club as well, he’ll be wanting to get a positive result.”
Allardyce managed West Ham for almost four years from 2011, guiding the London club to 12th place last season. He replaced Dick Advocaat at Sunderland four months ago after they had collected only three points from their first eight matches. Vastly experienced, Allardyce is integral to his side’s chances of remaining in the Premier League.
“Without a doubt,” O’Shea said. “You’ve seen how he’s trying to shape the team and the squad and, although it’s easy to say it when we’ve just beaten Manchester United, we have been performing better. Especially when you look at Man City and the last 15 minutes against Liverpool, we took the performance level, the attitude and desire from the Liverpool match and put it all together for the Manchester United performance. If we can maintain that hopefully we’ll be OK.”
Jermain Defoe should be crucial to Sunderland’s survival, too. The former Tottenham Hotspur striker sat out competitive training at Dubai Sports City on Thursday as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. He came off early in Saturday’s win against United.
However, Defoe has scored crucial goals of late to take his tally for the season to 10. O’Shea, who said Sunderland must also improve upon the joint-worst defensive record in the league, believes having the 11th highest scorer in Premier League history should give his side the edge in the run-in.
“It’s key, because no doubt when the opposition see Defoe on the team sheet they’re fully aware of the amount of Premier League goals he’s scored and that he will continue to score, hopefully,” O’Shea said. “We know once we have Jermain in the team, it’s up to us to supply him the ammunition and, if we can do that, we know he’s going to take the chances nine times out of 10.”
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