Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has revealed that his players are ready for the relegation battle they now find themselves in.

Sunderland's hopes of avoiding the drop were dealt a huge blow with an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace last time out and the Black Cats certainly have their backs against the wall ahead of the final five fixtures of the campaign.

Despite the horror show against the Eagles, manager Advocaat insists that the players are not getting disheartened and instead revealed that his side are more than up for the relegation battle.

"We still need to learn that if you go a goal behind you can still change the game because we forgot to do that against Crystal Palace," he said.

"This is a new game and we know there are only six games left in the season, so we need to show that we want to stay up and I have the feeling that the players are really up for it. We know that we need to earn results but we have the feeling that we can do something."