Lee Cattermole admits Sunderland's battle against relegation has become that much harder following their 2-0 defeat to Leicester.

The Black Cats are bottom of the Premier League and eight points from safety with eight games left to play.

"It looks very tough but you don't become a footballer by shying away from things," Cattermole said after Sunderland's 20th league defeat of the campaign.

"Everyone has that drive, we need to look forward to Sunday, get ourselves going and show how much we care about the position we're in.

"We've got another game on Sunday, we have to show some pride, stand up and find out what we're all about.

"We can't make any excuses, I thought we were bang at it and we played well at the champions. We felt we were the better team but we're walking away with nothing."