Wearsiders in free-fall toward bottom three

And on the rock-bottom form shown in a comprehensive drubbing at Upton Park, which left Peter Reid's men in fourth bottom position, only five points above the Tractor Boys, who have a game in hand, it is hard to see very much being gleaned from the two last games, at Charlton on Saturday, where they lost 3 - 0, and at home to relegated Derby County.

Ipswich have a formidable programme remaining - at home to Middlesbrough on Wednesday night before finishing with do-or-die games at Liverpool and at home to Manchester United.

Sunderland, after losing eight of their last nine away games, now find themselves with inferior goal difference - and with few goals being scored and a load being conceded, the alarm bells are ringing loud and clear.

And to add to their woes the Wearsiders could find themselves going into the crucial last two games without the services of their 11-goal leading scorer, former England striker Kevin Phillips, who spend the weekend in hospital for an assessment on the extent of ankle ligament damage after being stretchered off at the Boleyn Ground.

It was Sunderland's third consecutive defeat, a wretched run, but more worrying was the way the Wearsiders hoisted the white flag - they appeared to have no stomach for a fight and West Ham, not one of the greatest teams in the top flight, could quite easily have run riot. The performance was quite shocking from a side supposedly fighting for top-flight survival and there is now a grave danger that Sunderland are spinning down into the abyss. For the first time this season manager Reid, usually so protective towards his players, questioned the commitment from his highly-paid players. "I think it is down to both a lack of commitment and a lack of desire," admitted Reid, who has come under increasing fire from dissatisfied supporters. "We buckled after we went a goal down - we were pretty poor and we deserved to lost. "We were second-best all over the park and the only good thing to come out of the game was that our future is in our own hands. "I don't accept that it now depends on what Ipswich do - I still believe that one will be enough. "It is my job now to get the players out on the training ground and work hard to get our confidence back and give a better performance at Charlton. But it will be a difficult task for Reid, whose efforts this season seem to have fallen largely on deaf ears. Certainly Sunderland never looked capable of coming up with a serious challenge against a rising West Ham side with more imagination, flair and commitment.

The Hammers, solid and efficient at the back, snuffed out what threat their might have been from Phillips and the veteran Niall Quinn, and thrived on the exciting endeavours of England midfielder Joe Cole and the penetrating forward runs of one-time Sunderland target Trevor Sinclair.

Cole, one of England's brightest prospects, thought he had put West Ham into a seventh minute lead and so did the PAQ announcer before celebrations were halted by the sight of an assistant linesman's offside flag.

But West Ham fans only had to wait until the 28th minute until goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen again had to fish the ball out of the net after Sinclair had stormed through to unleash an unstoppable right-foot shot.

After that Sunderland just went from bad to worse as Cole and his midfield partner, Michael Carrick, started to pull the strings.

Sunderland couldn't even manage a shot on target in the first half and the only flash of aggression from Phillips, now a pale shadow of the Will o'the Wisp finisher who once terrorised Premiership defences, was a wild shot high into the crowd from 25 yards.

But no-one else seemed to have much idea either about scoring goals and West Ham, even without the services of feared marksmen Paulo Di Canio and Frederic Kanoute, laid siege on the Sunderland goal.

It was virtually all over when midfielder Steve Lomas was served up a tap-in by Sinclair in the 52nd minute and it was just a matter of how many goals West Ham would rack up against opponents totally bereft of any confidence in their ability to put more than a couple of passes together.

The introduction of winger Thomas Butler did give the Wearsiders a little more threat on the left, but with Phillips and Quinn both having stinkers home goalkeeper David James might as well have had the afternoon off.

It was no surprise when 20-year-old Kevin Kyle replaced Quinn, and the Scottish Under-21 international did manage to bring James out of his slumbers in the 59th minute, and the England custodian also had to show his agility by tipping a speculative long shot from Butler over the bar.

But there was never any really suggestion of a fight-back, and with Sunderland central derfenders Joachim Bjorklund and Jody Craddock kept at full stretch, it was one-way traffic.

Phillips was stretchered off following a rash challenge which earned a booking for Ian Pearce in the 68th minute, and the big Sunderland following seemed resitgned to an inevitable fifth consecutive defeat this season in London.

England Under-21 international Jermain Defoe made it three in the 77th minute with a simple header, and it took a reflex safe from Sorenson to deny Carrick a goal in stoppage time as his ripped open the Sunderland defence once again.

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