Whitehead eyes improvement

Midfielder confident of turnaround

By Amanda Cornforth   Last updated: 19th December 2007

whitehead dean

Whitehead: Upbeat

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Sunderland captain Dean Whitehead believes the side will improve with time as they adjust to life in the Premier League.

The Black Cats travel to Reading on Saturday still in search of their first away win of the season and knowing it would be a great time to get it in the bag as the campaign nears the halfway stage.

Roy Keane's men head into the game in 17th position in the table, just a point above the relegation zone and four adrift of the Royals in 13th.

Sunderland were unfortunate at the weekend when referee Steve Bennett ruled out Danny Collins' late header against Aston Villa, leaving them to take just a point.

But Whitehead is confident that the team have enough ability to go on and haul themselves up the league.

Experience

"We have a lot of players who were inexperienced in the Premier League and we are gaining experience as we go along," Whitehead said.

"We will definitely get better as we go.

"We all had expectations coming into the season that we would do this and do that.

"But we find ourselves in a position we don't want to be in, so we have to knuckle down and make sure we start getting points on the board sooner rather than later.

"There are a lot of teams near the bottom who are very close in terms of points, so if we can get a win, all of a sudden, you are three or four points above the relegation zone.

"In this league wins are massive especially at the bottom at the moment.

"We are very confident. We have definitely got enough in this squad to climb the table."