ARSENAL and Tottenham have stepped up their respective interests in Sunderland stars Thomas Sorensen and Kevin Phillips.

The North London rivals were represented at Upton Park on Saturday as the Black Cats were nudged nearer the Premiership precipice by fellow strugglers West Ham.

With rock-bottom Sunderland sliding inexorably towards the Nationwide League and facing an estimated £15m downturn in revenue next season on top of debts approaching £30m, sacrifices will have to be made this summer.

And their two most highly-prized assets, goalkeeper Sorensen and striker Phillips, expect to be off-loaded as the club attempt to cushion the impact of a drastic drop in income.

Double-chasing Arsenal, along with title rivals Manchester United, are long-standing admirers of Danish international Sorensen, while Spurs failed in a move for Phillips last season.

The Gunners have also tracked Hitchin-born Phillips, who was an Arsenal fan as a boy.

Immediately after the 2-0 defeat at West Ham, the 29-year-old England discard spoke of his belief that he is destined to leave Wearside following six goal-laden years.

And Sorensen, who practically played the Hammers on his own, seems equally resigned to a change in circumstance.

Before joining up with the Denmark squad for their Euro 2004 qualifying double-header with Romania and Bosnia, Sorensen admitted that Sunderland are simply "not good enough'' for the top flight.

The latest setback followed defeat by the same scoreline at the hands of rivals-in-distress Bolton in Mick McCarthy's first game as Sunderland manager.

"All season we have struggled to take points from the teams around us in the table,'' said Sorensen.

"There have been a lot of times over the campaign where we have said that if we can just win a particular game, then maybe we can turn things around.

"But what people saw on Saturday spoke for itself. We are just not good enough on the ball, we didn't create chances and we gave the ball away too easily.

"We deserved to get beaten.

"We never got into our game and we could have ended up losing by a lot more, so it's no surprise we are bottom of the league at the moment."

Former Republic of Ireland boss McCarthy, who replaced the sacked Howard Wilkinson a fortnight ago, has admitted that Sunderland's plight is now "desperate'' after they suffered their eighth consecutive Premiership defeat.

"It has not been the best of starts for Mick, but he has done everything he can and really it is up to the players,'' stressed Sorensen. "It's our fault. It's one thing doing it right on the training ground and talking about it in the dressing room before the game, but we need to do it when we are out there on the field.

"We need to take responsibility. You can't just try to play safe all the time and I think that was the main difference between ourselves and West Ham, because if you are anxious then you will get punished."

* Sunderland striker Tore Andre Flo has been named in the Norway squad for the Euro 2004 qualifier in Luxembourg a week tomorrow.

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