Sebastian Larsson insists Sunderland must fight for survival
Monday 16 March 2015 14:27, UK
Sebastian Larsson insists Sunderland will not be throwing in the towel after another Stadium of Light horror show sparked renewed fears of Premier League relegation.
Saturday's 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Aston Villa, coupled with Burnley's 1-0 win over Manchester City, has left Sunderland sitting just a point clear of the bottom three.
The Swede is taking succour from last season's survival surge when - from an equally precarious position - they embarked on an inspired run which saw them take 13 points from their last nine games a sequence which included victories at Chelsea and Manchester United.
Larsson said: "We are not going to lie down and give up. We are going to battle on. Too many times this season, we have had chances to pull away and we haven't done it, and we know that's our problem. Why? I don't know - if I knew the answer, we would have rectified it.
"But we will keep battling away and making sure we get the points we need to stay up, and then we need to start afresh and really have a think about things in the summer."
Larsson, who missed the start of the second half as he had stitches put into a leg wound, admitted that the defeat to Villa had been a new low.
He said: "In that first half, the goals we conceded, all of them, were so avoidable, every single one. It was just a ridiculous amount if mistakes from all of us out there.
"Go through all those four goals and none of them should be going in, and that is the very, very, very frustrating thing. It's just embarrassing."
