Dean Whitehead is confident Sunderland can start moving up the table after the international break.

The midfielder told the Sunderland Echo: "I definitely think we've been a little unlucky not to pick up a couple of more points than we have done.

"We got to within 10 minutes of a draw at Arsenal was a great effort and if we'd scored a tad earlier against Blackburn Rovers in the previous game, I would have fancied us to get something out of that.

"Those extra couple of points would have put us mid-table.

"But as it is, we're doing alright and there's no comparison to the last time we were in this division.

"We've avoided the relegation zone, despite playing Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs in our opening nine games.

"And I think now we have the scope to kick on a little bit in the next month or two.

"We've got games coming up now which we'll feel we should definitely get something out of.

"And I think we showed against Arsenal that we can give any team a game on our day.

"It looked as though they were going to walk away with it in the very early stages, but we held our nerve, came back to equalise and they didn't get their noses in front until the last 10 minutes.

"The signs are there that players are getting used to life in the Premiership now and we'll only get stronger when players come back from injury."