Jan Kirchhoff feels Sunderland good enough to avoid relegation
Monday 21 March 2016 09:38, UK
Jan Kirchhoff is confident Sunderland can survive in the Premier League if they continue their recent positive mentality.
The former Bayern Munich midfielder, who joined the club in January, was part of the team denied three points by a late Newcastle equaliser at St James' Park on Saturday.
Victory would have lifted Sunderland back out of the bottom three - Norwich moved above them with a win over West Brom on Saturday - but Kirchhoff felt it was another positive performance from Sam Allardyce's side, who remain a point above their derby opponents.
He said: "We are still above Newcastle, we are still in a position to stay in the league. We are two points behind Norwich, who have one game fewer, so it's all in our own hands.
"We can stay in this mentality, to be sharp, to be focused and believe in winning our games. That's how we can go on.
"I am really comfortable and I have the feeling we can stay in the league and are good enough to stay in the league."
The Black Cats have lost only one of their last six games, but their hopes of climbing away from the danger zone have been frustrated by four of those matches ending in a draw.
Allardyce has set his side a target of winning four of their last eight games to secure survival, with a trip to Norwich among them, but Kirchhoff feels it would be foolish to focus too much on one rival.
Kirchhoff said: "They won their last game, so it's a good feeling for them, but we have got a game more so if we win it, we will go above them. We will have one point more than them, so it's in our hands.
"We don't have to focus on Norwich. We still have to play against them in a really tight, big important game, so we can do it. It's in our hands, we can go on, we can believe in it and just work hard.
"If we go into the next game and get a clean sheet, I am sure it will be enough to win the game."
