SIMON MIGNOLET believes Sunderland still have the quality to stay clear of the Premier League's relegation zone despite an increasing list of absentees.

The red card Craig Gardner received for his horrible challenge on Stoke City's Charlie Adam on Monday night means he misses the final two games of the campaign.

Gardner's suspension, which also rules him out of the opening game of next season, has added to the selection problems Paolo Di Canio faces ahead of tomorrow's visit of Southampton and the final day trip to Tottenham.

With striker Steven Fletcher and skipper Lee Cattermole already sidelined through injury, Gardner has followed key creator Stephane Sessegnon in to the banned list for the remainder of the campaign.

And with fans' favourite Danny Rose ineligible when they travel to his parent club Tottenham on May 19, Di Canio knows his thin squad will be tested to the full in the next eight days.

But Mignolet, aware of the Saints' threat, remains confident. He said: "Southampton are a good side, it doesn't really matter who we play. We've got the kind of squad to deal with injuries and suspensions, we don't think in terms of what we're missing, we just think about the players we have got. "At the start of the season you've got a squad and any of those lads could come on and do a job for us in the Premier League. Obviously it's a blow to lose those players but again you're a squad, and you have to deal with those kind of things."

A three match winning run in games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Reading gave Southampton a significant boost in their own attempts to stay in the top-flight for a further season before failing to win any of their last four.

Now Argentine boss Mauricio Pochettino, whose side are four points clear of third from bottom Wigan and a point better off than Sunderland, knows survival is within Southampton's grasp.

But Mignolet is not willing to consider the south coast club's position and wants to concentrate purely on a victory which is likely to safeguard Sunderland's own status as a Premier League club.

"There's just no point in thinking about the game after next against Tottenham, what's important is Southampton, then we'll deal with the next game after that," said the Sunderland goalkeeper."We know how important staying up is to the club, but we have to keep that out of our minds during games, to keep that away from the pitch. "Against Southampton, that's not going to make any difference, we've just got to think of it as three points, and three points that we need to try to stay in the division."