Mignolet in no mood to talk about relegation chances

A hard-earned point with ten men against Stoke City could turn out to precious when the final whistle has blown on the final day of the campaign at Tottenham on May 19.

The draw meant the Black Cats climbed up to 15th in the table and rather than worry about slipping in to the bottom three before the penultimate round of fixtures they knew that could not happen regardless of what happened between Wigan and Swansea City last night.

The fight to stay in the top-flight is far from won, though, and Mignolet knows Sunderland must try to pick up three points against Southampton on Sunday or risk needing to go to White Hart Lane on the final weekend needing to win.

Everyone the Belgian goalkeeper has bumped in to has wanted to discuss the different permutations of the relegation-run and how Sunderland may or not be able to get out of trouble.

But Mignolet said: “There's a lot of ifs and buts, but we just have to worry about ourselves. We know we've got it in our own hands. There's no team we have to worry about, all we have to do is worry about ourselves.

“Now we need to get the rest we need, we had a hard game against Stoke so we need to recharge our batteries and go again on Sunday, we really don't need to look at what other teams do.

"We will try to block out what every other team is doing. Everywhere we go on the streets, everyone's talking about ifs and buts and what might happen.

“We have to be professional and deal with that and not let it affect us. We have to deal with our own performances and if everyone puts in a performance like we did in the second half against Stoke there will be nothing to worry about.”

After a dreadful first half against Stoke when Sunderland fell behind to a Jon Walters goal, performed poorly and had Craig Gardner correctly sent off for a studs first challenge on Charlie Adam just after half an hour, Paolo Di Canio inspired his players to a second half fightback.

And once John O’Shea had grabbed the equaliser in the 63rd minute Sunderland could actually have won. In the circumstances, however, the Bank Holiday Monday draw could prove to be just the lift required ahead of the last two games.

"At half-time you look around the dressing room 1-0 down with ten men and obviously a couple of lads' heads go down,” said Mignolet. “But luckily the gaffer gave us a lot of confidence at half-time and we stepped back onto the pitch and we worked really hard.

“And with the support of the crowd, they were our 11th man in the second half and we deserve a lot of credit for that second half. We came out and battled on every yard of the pitch and we definitely deserved a point.

"The most important thing is that it's still in our hands. We've got a really big game on Sunday against Southampton and hopefully we can take that second half display into that game. If the crowd helps us through like Monday night then I think we can win the points and get ourselves secure.”

With Wigan, Newcastle and Norwich City all sitting below Sunderland - and with a substantially inferior goal difference - a victory in one of the two matches will prove enough to keep them up after Swansea's 3-2 win over Wigan last night.

"I don't really want to talk in those terms, it's about getting three points on Sunday and make sure we win the game,” said Mignolet. “It obviously depends on what other teams are doing, but we'll see about that after the game. We have to do it ourselves and make sure we don't have to worry about what the other teams are doing.”

Gardner’s three-match suspension for his red card on Monday means Sunderland will be without him, Stephane Sessegnon, leading goalscorer Steven Fletcher and skipper Lee Cattermole for the crucial run-in.

Di Canio will also be without Danny Rose for the final game at Tottenham under the terms of his loan agreement, but Sunderland will not be able to call on Ahmed Elmohamady. The Egyptian’s loan does not officially end until June despite that fact that Hull City’s season is already over.