VERSATILE England 'B' international Darren Williams is convinced that Sunderland are too strong to put him through another relegation nightmare.

The 24-year-old Teessider was part of Peter Reid's team which suffered the agonies of an instant drop from the Premiership five years ago after charging through to the top flight as runaway First Division Champions.

Now Sunderland are just five points above third-placed Blackburn Rovers, who have a game in hand, and there are still worries about the immediate future after a disappointing season no-one expected after two seven-place finishes.

Reid admitted a huge feeling of relief after his side registered their first home win of the season against fellow-strugglers Bolton Wanderers last week - but there is still a hard slog ahead, starting at Chelsea on Saturday, the first of four remaining games in London. But Williams is adamant that the present team - boosted by the recent signing of Cameroon international Patrick Mboma - is good enough to battle its way to safety.

He admitted: "Times have been difficult - we're down towards the bottom of the table and that isn't nice. It hasn't been nice after games when we've lost and there is a lot of pressure on our shoulders.

"It's been frustrating to go out there and produce so much and not get anything out of games.

"But I think times will get better - I don't think we are a team destined for relegation."

But Williams, armed with the experience of the 1996-97 season, added: "It's going to be difficult.

"There are players here like Niall Quinn, Michael Gray and myself, who have been here before and we know how hard it can be. But I'm sure the squad we have is good enough to pull the club out of it.

"We have got more strength in depth than the squad that was relegated and we have a lot more experience in there - we had a lot of young players then and the squad wasn't as big."

Williams, who has been a consistent, whole-hearted performer for Sunderland this season in midfield, the centre of defence and at full-back, still finds that his first-team place is dictated by injury - against Bolton he replaced the injured Swedish international Joachim Bjorklund in the heart of defence.

He said: "I know we have a few injuries at the moment but I think we are strong enough to cope.

"The players we've got are internationals who have experience of playing in big games like World Cup qualifiers - they know what it's like to have pressure on them. They will pull through for us and young lads like myself, Jody Craddock and Paul Thirlwell can learn from them and help secure Sunderland's place in the Premiership."

Sunderland's poor season, says Williams, was totally unexpected after the way they more than held their own in the two previous campaigns.

"It's a massive surprise to everybody that we have struggled this season - the fans, the club, the players and other clubs in the Premiership.

"After two good seasons when we got into seventh place and were pushing for a place in Europe to be fighting against relegation this season is a surprise.

"But it is nothing to panic about. We haven't become a bad team over one season - we have still got the same players, plus a few additions, and they are good enough to get the results to send us back up the table."

Sunderland are hoping that their influential midfield player, the United States captain Claudio Reyna, will be recovered from a hamstring strain to resume his place in midfield at Chelsea.

* Paul Konchesky has admitted Leicester's dramatic decline will act as a spur to Charlton to never take their foot off the pedal in the battle to guarantee regular Premiership football at The Valley, writes John Curtis.

Speaking after Saturday's 1-1 draw at Filbert Street Konchesky said: ''What has happened with Leicester shows you can never take anything for granted and their decline has surprised me a little bit."

Read more about Sunderland AFC here.