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Whitehead: Up for the challenge

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Dean Whitehead believes that this season's relegation battle is set to be the most exciting on record.

With almost the entire bottom half of the Premier League still not assured of their top-flight status for next season the next few months are guaranteed to throw up a number of twists and turns.

With Derby already resigned to their fate after a thoroughly disappointing campaign, any two from Fulham, Reading, Birmingham, Wigan, Bolton, Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough must now join them.

While four wins in their last seven games have helped Sunderland's cause and seen them rise to 14th in the table, the Black Cats still sit just four points above the drop zone and club captain Whitehead is well aware that they still have a lot of work to do yet.

Tight

"It's incredibly tight at the moment at the bottom of the league and you'd be hard-pressed to guess what's going to happen," he told the Sunderland Echo.

"All we can do is do our very best in every match and get clear of the bottom as soon as we can.

"We saw the other week, when we beat Birmingham City and shot up over them in the table, with them dropping towards the relegation zone, just how quickly things can change. It was the same with Wigan on Saturday.

Trouble

"It's so fluid at the moment that just one win can make a real difference and that's why games against other teams in the same situation, where teams not only get three points but also take three points off a rival, are so important.

"A couple of wins and you can be almost out of it. A couple of defeats and you're right back in it.

"Usually at this stage of the season there's a team that suddenly gets its act together, strings some good results up in a row and shoots clear of trouble.

Dreadful

"That's often balanced out by having a side which haven't looked in much trouble all season suddenly going on a dreadful run and dropping right into it.

"The relegation battle could go all the way to the final game of the season because it's so tight, there's really no telling. But hopefully we will be the side that strings those good results together and gets clear quite quickly.

"As for the team that drops like a stone, I really don't care who that is. Maybe it will be Newcastle," he smiled.