The Black Cats haven’t lost their confidence or belief ahead of a difficult trip to take on Tottenham Hotspur.
Sunderland’s Papy Djilobodji in action with Middlesbrough’s Antonio Barragan
Sunderland defender Papy Djilobodji has told the club website that he believes David Moyes’ men can upset the odds by heading to Tottenham on Sunday and securing three points.
The Black Cats find themselves in the bottom three after four matches, and will be determined not to get sucked into another relegation quagmire as the campaign moves forward.
Though the 27-year-old is expecting a tough match, he is optimistic of getting a positive result.
“It is a great pleasure to go and play against great teams like Tottenham Hotspur but when you do face them you know if you give them one chance they will bury it,” the former Chelsea defender told safc.com.
“We need to be focussed for the full 90 minutes but I believe, as do the squad, that we can go to White Hart Lane and win the game, so we’re training hard and we want to show what we can do.
Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt and Papy Djilobodji in action with Southampton’s Nathan Redmond
“The manager is also working very hard with us and he’s giving us the confidence to go out there and get three points for the fans, the staff and ourselves.”
Sunderland have had a mixed season so far, with performances that failed to provide the results they perhaps deserved, like against Manchester City and Southampton, contrasting with disappointing defeats against Middlesbrough and Everton.
Arguably, Moyes’ side face another unenviable fixture as they head to North London to take on a Spurs side likely to still be smarting after their Champions League loss against Monaco, but as Djilobodji states, the right attitude will significantly raise the chances of leaving White Hart Lane with something to show for their travels, as the Black Cats look to repeat a strong first half against the Toffees.
Everton’s Romelu Lukaku in action with Sunderland’s Papy Djilobodji
“We put in a really good first-half performance against Everton but in the second we lost our focus,” Djilobodji added. “What we need to do this weekend is produce a similar performance to the first half against Everton but until the final whistle.
“If we can perform like that I think we will win games but we need to put a shift in and keep our concentration.”
Sunderland will have to turn around some poor recent form against Tottenham, having not beaten them in the league since 2010, a spell that has seen Spurs record five successive wins at White Hart Lane.
General View of White Hart Lane
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