Dick Advocaat: Sunderland have four chances to stay in Premier League

Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat is looking for his team to pinch a point at Arsenal on Wednesday (10 May) to guarantee their Premier League survival.

Sunderland are looking for just one point that will guarantee they stay in the Premier League, battling with Newcastle United and Hull City to avoid the final relegation spot. They play Arsenal first and then champions Chelsea on Sunday (24 May), and while they could lose both and still stay up, Advocaat would rather score the point.

The Dutchman, who took over from sacked Gus Poyet in March, told reporters at the pre-match news conference on Tuesday (19 May) that the club is doing well.

"We were confident already when we started. I think we did extremely well so far but still not well enough that we know whether we stay in. But we still have four chances to stay up. The first two chances are tomorrow night and Sunday, and the other two chances are the other two clubs," he said.

Hull are third from bottom with 34 points from 37 games, Newcastle have 36 and Sunderland have 37 but an inferior goal difference to Hull who host Manchester United on Sunday.

Sunderland are in decent form and unbeaten in four games since a 4-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace.

Their last away trip was a 2-0 win at Everton, and Advocaat is adamant that the club must stay in the Premier League.

"For this club it is crucial to stay up," he said. "To be fair then everyone knows what they have to do for the next couple of years. Because this is a great club, a great stadium, facilities here are brilliant, so everything is there to play on a different level than they did for the last five years."

Taken on to keep the club up, Advocaat is still uncommitted for next season, and says he will discuss his future after the final match of the season. First he hopes to spring a surprise on Arsenal, like Swansea did on May 11.

"Quality-wise Arsenal is much better than we are but it doesn't always mean that the team with the best quality wins," he said. "Because Swansea did as well, so we can also do something. But it will be difficult but we have nothing to lose there because everybody expects we are losing."