LETHAL striker Kevin Phillips finally killed off speculation linking him with this afternoon's opponents, Leeds United, when he said last night: "I would be mad to leave Sunderland."

The 27-year-old hit-man, whose 30 goals last season won him the prestigious European Golden Slipper award as well as the Premiership Player of the Year accolade, was well aware of rumours linking him with the Yorkshire club.

Phillips said: "I must have been doing something right for people to have been writing about me.

"There was a stage about a month ago when it was in the papers every day linking me with Leeds.

"But now it has gone all quiet and I am just concentrating on playing for Sunderland. I feel I am getting back to near my best - goals are coming and it is looking good."

He added: "I didn't have the best of starts this season and people started putting two and two together, talking about body language, and I think it is a load of nonsense.

"You are bound to notice a bit of difference when things are not going right for you - it is the same in every walk of life.

"When things are not going right you tend to get a little bit down. But I have managed to turn it round over the last four to six weeks. I've started to knock a few goals in and my general play is good and everything is fine.

"I am here and I'll say it again - I would be mad to leave."

Leeds may be in Europe but Phillips believes Sunderland, just as ambitious, are not far behind.

He said: "I feel Sunderland are just as big a club, even though we might have not won as many honours or achieved as much as Leeds over the last few years.

"But I feel Sunderland are heading in the right direction. We are heading in the direction that Leeds, Arsenal and Manchester United have gone.

"Maybe we are a bit behind them but over the last couple of seasons in the Premiership we haven't disgraced ourselves and we are definitely up there with them. Hopefully we can prove that at Elland Road."

Phillips is reluctant to talk about Sunderland's European ambitions, but he has a burning desire to shoot the club into contention.

He said: "It is too early to talk about Europe. Everyone knows what happened last season when we started to talk about it.

"But if we can get through the first week of January still in the top eight we will be very happy with that and we can definitely push towards getting into Europe.

"We are sitting very nicely at the moment and we don't want to let it slip."

Phillips and his strike partner, Niall Quinn, will be facing Britain's most expensive footballer, Rio Ferdinand, at Elland Road.

Phillips, who cost a modest £650,000 and has been rated at £12m, has his reservations about such a huge price tag.

He said: "Rio Ferdinand is a good player but whether he is worth £18m I don't know. I don't think anyone is worth that sort of money.

"But that is the sort of money being paid nowadays and £18m for a defender is a lot of money.

"He will probably show against us that he is worth £18m!

"He is a good player and when I have trained with England I have seen what he can do.

"He will definitely be a player to watch out for at Elland Road.

"I think it will be tough for him to handle big Niall, but that is tough for all defenders this season.

"It will interesting to see how he copes with that, but he is a good enough player. You don't pay £18m for a player who can't handle it so it should be a good battle."

Phillips, who has scored two goals in the last three games to bring his tally for the season to seven, goes into the game full of confidence. But he knows how hard it will be.

He said: "It is a massive game - we are on a good run and we want it to continue.

"Up to now Leeds haven't had the greatest of seasons in the Premiership.

"But they've had a great result in Europe. It's going to be a good game, a great atmosphere and I'm really looking forward to it.