Sunderland AFC defender Papy Djilobodji, has stated that the Black Cats need to "stay strong" ahead of Wednesday's clash with his former club Chelsea.
Staying positive
The Black Cats had been well in form ahead of Saturday's clash with Swansea City, with three wins in their last four seeing just a point away from pulling themselves out of the relegation zone.
However a 3-0 defeat will have dented their confidence ahead of the visit of Antonio Conte's side, however Djilobodji who joined from the Blues this summer said that they will be determined to give it their all.
"We have to stay positive because it’s not that easy,” Djilobodji told safc.com. “We had three victories in four games and even though we lost to Swansea we need to stay strong."
“We have to stay together for our survival in the Premier League," he stated. "We don’t need negativity because we have the people behind us – the fans – and they come everywhere we go.”
“We need them and we will need them throughout the season," the defender admitted. "But I think we will give them what they deserve and they deserve the team to stay in the Premier League."
“Wednesday’s game is going to be difficult but we can do better than we did at Swansea," Djilobodji concluded. "So we will rest, prepare well and do our best to pick up some points.”
Can do it again
Conte's side are currently on a run of nine consecutive victories, but a glimmer of hope for David Moyes side will be their performance against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light last season.
They managed to edge out a 3-2 victory which proved crucial to their survival, and defender Lamine Kone said there is no reason why they couldn't do it again.
“At Swansea the fans backed us in numbers," he said. "I know they’ll do the same on Wednesday."
"If it’s anything like last year," the defender stated. "They’ll give us a lot of help on the pitch."
“We’ll need them because Chelsea are a very strong team with a lot of good players," Kone concluded. "But we remember last season and we believe we can do it again.”
Sunderland AFC will take on Chelsea at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday, December 14 with kick-off at 7:45pm GMT.