Sam Allardyce targets five wins to seal Premier League survival

Sam Allardyce has warned Sunderland they will go down if they rely on other teams to get them out of Premier League relegation trouble.

The Black Cats host Crystal Palace tonight (7.45pm) still smarting from Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at West Ham, during which they created more than enough chances to get something from the game, but ultimately left Upton Park empty-handed.

As luck would have it, they ended the weekend no worse off with fellow strugglers Aston Villa, Norwich, and Swansea all losing and Newcastle not in action, although that provided little comfort to their 61-year-old manager.

Allardyce said: “It doesn’t matter. Twenty-three points, 27 games — if the season finishes now, we are relegated, so you have got to get to 38 points or better, it’s as simple as that.

“It doesn’t matter what anybody else does, you have got to go and do it yourself. You can’t rely on others, you have got to do it yourself. If you rely on others, you’ll get relegated.”

Sunderland have just 11 games remaining in which to dig themselves out of trouble for a fourth successive season, and Allardyce has set them a target of five victories to give themselves a chance.

He said: “We have got 11 games and we have got to have our best run of the season. We have got to pick up five victories if we can in 11 minimum, and that’s 38 points in the hope that 38 points is going to be enough.”

The Black Cats boss has repeatedly bemoaned his side’s inability to keep clean sheets — they have not done so since November — and he knows that will be a challenge once again this time around with Yannick Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha and former Sunderland frontman Connor Wickham at opposite number Alan Pardew’s disposal.

Palace are currently in the midst of a 10-game run without a league victory and defeat at the Stadium of Light could drag them to the fringes of the relegation battle.

Allardyce may believe the Eagles are safe but Alan Pardew is not so sure.

“Are we in a relegation fight? Yes, of course we are,” said the Eagles boss yesterday.

“We keep losing. There is no talk of Europe at this club. We are focused now on what Crystal Palace need to deliver over the next 10 games.”

Bolasie could return to the starting line-up for the first time since December, an absence which has coincided with Palace’s slide.

But Pardew is eager not to place too much pressure on the winger, who was a key figure in their fine start to the season until he suffered a hip injury.

“It’s easy to say we have missed players and start leaning on the fact Yannick is back and everything will be okay, but it doesn’t work like that,” he said. “We all need to pull our fingers out; me, the staff and the players.”