Anton Ferdinand has dismissed concerns that Sunderland could be relegated.

"It would be unthinkable to go down. But we're not even dwelling on it because it's not going to happen," Ferdinand told The Journal. "We've got to pull our fingers out, start grafting and get back to playing the kind of football that we know we can play.

"Football is a funny game and you can never say never, but in my eyes that's never going to happen."

"Things are very tight and it makes people nervous but it is what makes the Premier League so interesting. Anyone from ninth to eighth can still go down.

"But on the other hand that gives us an incentive because they're not that far away from us if we go on another run."