Seb Larsson is of firm belief that Sunderland are on the up after a string of positive results.
The Black Cats have taken seven points from a possible 12 since Martin O'Neill took over earlier this month and the Swedish midfielder is confident the points will keep coming, starting with league leaders Manchester City on New Year's Day.
"It will be incredibly hard, but it is one of those games you really look forward to as you can test yourselves against the very best.
"It is not an easy place to come and we want to get it back to the fortress it has been in the past.
"We are desperate to push up the league and hopefully we have shown we are capable of doing that.
"Everyone can see we're heading in the right direction. We've picked up a few points recently and have to keep that going.
"The manager [O'Neill] has come in at a time when we've got a lot of games, so we are learning more and more about what he wants and vice versa.""We are now expecting to pick up points and that will be no different when we play Manchester City," he told the Sunderland Echo.
