MICK McCarthy last night delivered a ringing endorsement of his promotion winners by claiming they were good enough to prosper in the Premiership.

Sunderland will clinch the Championship title if they claim all three points at West Ham this evening and, even if they lose, Wigan will not be able to catch them unless they win at Preston tomorrow.

Finishing at the top of England's second tier would be quite an achievement for a club that was facing financial and footballing meltdown as it tumbled out of the top-flight two seasons ago.

But, as even the most cursory glance at the Premiership standings proves, succeeding in the Championship is not the same as surviving at the highest level.

Plenty of pundits are already predicting that Sunderland's players will face the same slog for survival that is currently causing so much anxiety to their counterparts at Norwich, Crystal Palace and West Brom.

McCarthy, according to popular thought, must make wholesale changes to ensure his side has any chance of avoiding a quick return to the Championship.

The Black Cats boss accepts he must make additions to his squad. But, rather than flagging up the limitations of the players currently at his disposal, he has spent the last week musing over the attributes that convince him they have what it takes to thrive in the top-flight.

"I would like to believe that, if you are the best in the Championship, you can cope with the Premiership," said McCarthy, who insists his side remain totally focused on tonight's game, despite last weekend's promotion party at the Stadium of Light.

"I don't doubt that these players can cope with the Premier League at all.

"You only have to look at some of the players who have done well up there this season. Michael Carrick was a Championship player last year, so was Michael Brown, Dean Ashton, Tim Cahill and Andy Johnson. They have done well for themselves haven't they?

"If they are the best the Championship had to offer last season, then someone like George McCartney has got to be up there with them.

"He has been judged one of the best in the league by his fellow professionals, as has Julio Arca. I have no doubts about them at all."

Both McCartney and Arca have already played in the Premiership but, for the likes of Stephen Elliott, Liam Lawrence and Dean Whitehead, the top-flight represents uncharted territory.

The three youngsters all arrived last summer as McCarthy assembled a squad packed with untried novices desperate to prove their worth.

The policy proved staggeringly successful, with the resultant spirit and camaraderie helping Sunderland to ride out the inevitable problems that have sporadically appeared this season.

McCarthy has always valued the importance of a happy camp - his bold banishment of Roy Keane when Republic of Ireland boss underlined that - and, while there will inevitably be additions to the squad this summer, they will not be allowed to unbalance the equilibrium he has nurtured at the Stadium of Light.

"We lost a lot of players in my first year who were earning vast amounts of money," explained McCarthy. "We don't have anything like that now and there's a different feel to the place.

"Perhaps it's the same feel as when Peter Reid was here first of all. It was always the feel I got when I came here at that time.

"I don't want us to lose that feel and that work ethic the players have got. I want it to remain the same.

"I don't want divisions in the camp where some players are earning up here and others are earning down there.

"They are all on an even keel at the moment and they work well for each other as a result."

Nevertheless, cultivating a winning spirit in the Championship is quite different to assembling and inspiring a side that can survive in the top-flight.

McCarthy is unproven at the highest level but, after making a career out of proving people wrong, the one-time Barnsley apprentice is determined to upset the odds once again.

"That's just the way my career has been," he said. "For years I have had challenges thrown at me, had people telling me I can't do things. For years I seem to have been proving people wrong and long may that continue.

"I took the Ireland job after Jack (Charlton) and was told that I would never make a success of it. It was the same as a player and I did all right at that as well.

"I have a history of being given jobs and having people tell me that I can't do them. I have enjoyed proving them wrong. In a way, it's nice. I don't want to be put up as a favourite, I might not enjoy it. I like the challenge of being knocked down a bit."

Alnwick keeps place in goal

NOVICE goalkeeper Ben Alnwick will be back between the sticks this evening as Sunderland look to win the Championship title at West Ham.

The 18-year-old, who made his senior debut in last weekend's win over Leicester, will retain his place in the continued absence of side-strain victim Thomas Myhre.

"Ben will play and, on last weekend's performance, he deserves that," said manager Mick McCarthy. "To have come in and played as well as he did against Leicester was outstanding.

"He's on a new four-year contract and that's how highly we think of him here.

"I would have no worries about going into a Premier League season with him in goal if he plays like that."

Full-back George McCartney will return to the side after recovering from a hamstring injury, forcing the unfortunate Andy Welsh out of the starting line-up yet again.

West Ham will be without leading scorer Teddy Sheringham as the 39-year-old is struggling with a hamstring problem.

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