Joleon Lescott feels Sunderland have the necessary experience to beat the drop.

Lescott believes that the plethora of Premier League experience in the Sunderland squad can help them avoid the same fate as the Aston Villa side he played in last season.

He told the Sunderland Echo: “It's not just relegation battle experience, it is Premier League experience.

“I'm yet to meet a foreign player who doesn't say that this is the most physically demanding league they have played in, so the more experience of that you have, the better."

Lescott added: “It's not a given [that Sunderland will stay up], but we are fully confident that we can achieve it."