Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole feels he's being targeted by Premier League refs.

Steve Bruce substituted the tough-tackling midfielder after he received his third booking of the season with 20 minutes remaining in the 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion prior to the international break.

It was a change designed to protect Cattermole, who has been booked 47 times and sent off on five occasions in domestic competitions since 2005/06, but he defends his record.

"I feel like they (the referees) are out there for me at the minute," he said. "Maybe it's my stupid mistakes in the past that have got me that reputation, so I can't sit here and blame everyone else. I have to get rid of that reputation, but it's so hard at the minute when I find myself getting a succession of soft yellow cards.

"It affects your game. It's something I have to address, but if you put every foul I've ever made up on the television, I think there'd be one tackle which was actually a bad one.

"That was against Scott Parker when I was playing for Wigan and I've spoken to him since to apologise about it. That's the only bad tackle I've made in my career - all the rest have been genuine attempts to win the ball, not nasty attempts to hurt someone."