Sunderland's Lamine Kone has said that their 2-2 draw with Liverpool and the 2-1 victory over Manchester United on Saturday were bonus points in the Black Cats' push for survival. 

Surprising results 

Many expected Sam Allardyce's side to struggle, in what looked to be a very rough patch of fixtures on paper. However, but they arguably pulled out three of their best performances so far this season.

They were better side despite the 1-0 loss to Manchster City a fortnight ago ,and late goals from Adam Johnson and Jermain Defoe saved a crucial point at Anfield

Kone started the match against Louis van Gaal's side on Saturday and proved to be one of the key figures in capturing the three points. Fellow January signing Wahbi Khazri opened the scoring three minutes before Anthony Martial leveled the score before the break.

However it was the signing from Lorient who had the final say as his header was bundled over the line David De Gea to give Allardyce's side a crucial win. 

Kone has become a fan favourite since joining in January. | Image source: Sunderland AFC
Kone has become a fan favourite since joining in January. | Image source: Sunderland AFC

Boost of confidence 

That string of results has brought the Wearside club to the brink of safety, with one point separating themselves and fourth-bottom Norwich City. Despite the perilous position they continue to be in, the Ivorian believes those results have boosted confidence levels massively. 

Kone told the Shields Gazette that it was "important" that they took points off "one of the three big teams", and that four points from a possible nine "wasn't bad at all". He suggested that it was "more than [Sunderland had] hoped for". 

Hammers ahead 

With no FA Cup action this weekend the squad have traveled to Dubai for a hot weather training camp ahead of their match with West ham United a week on Saturday, and Kone suggests that all the focus is on the match with Slaven Bilic's side. 

He said that they can "look towards" to the tussle with Allardyce's former side, and is hopeful they can get "another victory". 

He added that the ongoing relegation scrap is "still difficult" and that the side "need to win more games". Kone believes they will need to win as many of their last 12 games as possible if they are to remain in the Premier League. 

Sunderland will visit West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday, February 27 with kick-off at 12:45PM GMT. 

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.