Sunderland have shown that they have what it takes to control any nerves, according to Yann M’Vila, as the Black Cats look to avoid the drop this season.
Manager Sam Allardyce said in his post-match interview that he thought his side looked edgy in the 1-1 draw with Stoke City at the weekend.
Newcastle United’s win against Crystal Palace meant his side dropped back into the relegation zone, for now.
Black Cats can keep their cool
The draw against Newcastle a few weeks back and the massive win over Norwich City in April has gave Sunderland ever chance of staying up this season.
And M’Vila fully believes that his side isn’t anxious because they have “showed our character” in those games mentioned.
He told the Chronicle: “Stoke have a lot of energy and physicality too, so maybe it took us a while to adapt to that.
“But it was a good point in the end. Now we just have to win these games. That’s it.”
The midfielder has also expressed his belief in the side looking after themselves and not paying attention as to what teams around them are doing.
Chelsea and Everton games are huge
Sunderland are sitting one point behind rivals Newcastle with a game in hand, and they are a point ahead of Norwich having played the same amount of games.
However, goal difference is in the Black Cats’ favour, and M’Vila believes the side must take full advantage of home games against Chelsea and Everton before the final day of the season.
“We need to see if we can get six points against Chelsea and Everton and that will put us into a great position,” he said.
“We need to look to win both, not just one.”
M’Vila pointed out some of Chelsea’s “extraordinary” players such as Oscar, Eden Hazard and Pedro, he thinks a win is possible, but they have to produce a “very solid” performance.
Point against Stoke was deserved
Marko Arnautovic handed Stoke the lead on Saturday, but there was concern over Peter Crouch fouling Younes Kaboul in the build-up.
Sunderland had chances to score on a “couple of occasions”, but the fight was evident to see all the way until the final whistle, and M’Vila reiterated that matter.
“I think we deserved it because of how hard we worked over the course of the game,” he added.