REPUBLIC of Ireland international Jason McAteer believes Sunderland must keep striving to win a place in Europe rather than worrying about Premiership survival.

The disappointing home defeat by Newcastle United left the Wearsiders hovering six points above a relegation position after a run of only one win in eight League games, and supporters are becoming anxious about a difficult programme ahead.

Five of Sunderland's remaining six away games are in London, starting at Tottenham on Saturday, while there are home games to come against troubled teams like Bolton, Southampton, Leicester City and Derby, who are fighting tooth-and-nail for survival.

McAteer maintains the team must look up the table instead of casting a worried glance over their shoulders.

He said: "There are still 11 games to go and there is still a lot of work to be done.

"But it is still very, very tight - there are only seven points between 14th place and seventh.

"There is a lot to play for and the games will become bigger because of the position we have put ourselves in. But we have got to keep looking to win them."

He stressed: "We are still very much looking towards the top end of the table rather than the bottom.

"The staff are very optimistic and so are the lads - that's the best way to be.

"It's easy to feel a bit down and think that the next game is going to be hard and we are going to struggle, but we have got staff here who will pick us up. They started immediately after the Newcastle game - they told us get our heads up, put in a good week's hard training and look forward to the next game."

McAteer admits the players keep having to look to bounce back after disappointing results, but he believes Sunderland can salvage something out of the Newcastle defeat, in which his Republic of Ireland teammate Shay Given put in a match-winning performance.

He admitted: "We are getting used to this picking ourselves up malarkey - we keep saying it all the time.

"But against Newcastle I think it was a good, solid performance. We created chances and I think we were just unlucky and we have to take that into the next game at Spurs.

"We felt we should have got something out of the game because of the football we played.

"We've got to take all the good things out of the game and go down to Tottenham and have a go at them.

"Then we have Bolton at home on the Tuesday night, which is a must-win game."

McAteer was pleased with the way the supporters got behind Sunderland during the derby, and was happy that there was no repeat of the demonstrations against the team and manager Peter Reid which were seen at the end of the home defeat against Middlesbrough last month.

He said: "The crowd was fantastic. It was a massive game for the community and they all turned out.

"They have had some hard times here in recent weeks and things have been said and done which were a bit harsh.

"But they were on their best behaviour and that's one of the reasons it was a sad dressing room. We didn't let them down but we were just sorry we didn't get the right result for them."

* West Ham have been dealt a shattering blow with the news that former Sunderland player Don Hutchison could be out of action until next Christmas.

The 30-year-old midfielder was carried off with a knee injury during Saturday's 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, and a scan has revealed he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

Manager Glenn Roeder has also lost club captain Steve Lomas for up to a month as he injured knee ligaments against Boro.

But the bigger blow is the loss of Hutchison, who signed in September from the Black Cats for £5m.

''It's a bad injury and one which could rule him out for 10 months,'' said Roeder. ''This is devastating for Don."

With Michael Carrick still three weeks away from playing, the Hammers are now short in midfield

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