Sunderland captain Lorik Cana insists there shouldn't be panic over their recent poor form.

Cana has urged fans to remember the club is still building towards being a Premiership regular.

The midfielder said: "Our goal has to be to finish in the top half and we are not far away, but also not far away from the bottom three either.

"For a team like us who are still trying to build a team for the future, to lose three, four and, at one stage, eight players is really hard. If you look at our full-strength first 11, we are definitely good enough to finish in the top 10.

"But when you look beyond say our best 14 or 15 players, it would be very hard for us to do that."