Ricky Sbragia

By The Black Cats
May 22 2009

Ricky Sbragia has called for a ruthlessly single-minded approach from his players as they prepare for Sunday's momentous home match against Chelsea.

It has been a season of highs and lows and roller-coaster emotions on Wearside, but with Sunderland's league status still to be secured, attention must be focused squarely on the final game.

And while Monday's 3-1 defeat at Portsmouth was a sharp disappointment, with the Black Cats getting little reward for their performance, that and all other distractions must be put to one side.
 
"When it comes to Sunday, it's a case of forgetting everything that's happened previously," the manager said. "We can still be recognised for what we do against Chelsea and I'm very confident that we can stay up.

"We've got to make sure that everything that's happened previously is out of the players' minds. We've got a massive game on Sunday, the same as Newcastle and Hull have and it would be great to win it.

"The worst-case scenario is that the other teams win, but we've got to forget about that, forget about everything else and concentrate on our own game.

"We're still in it, it's still in our own hands, we still have a great chance. I would have loved a point on Monday night and three would have been even better, but that's not happened and we have to dust ourselves off. That's what we'll do.

"We don't know what frame of mind Chelsea will be in. We know they've got the FA Cup final the weekend after and, you never know, they might come up here a bit under the weather and with their minds on that.

"But we've got to look after ourselves, go out there and give it a right good go now. What we're aiming for is to play really well and get the three points. That's definitely achievable. From my point of view, the first 25 minutes of the game are really important for us."

(source : SAFC.com)