HE might only have taken over from Gus Poyet six weeks ago, but Dick Advocaat will be assuming full responsibility for Sunderland’s plight if he is unable to keep the club in the Premier League.

The Black Cats head into this afternoon’s home game with Southampton knowing a win is surely imperative if they are to stave off the threat of relegation to the Championship in the final five matches of the season.

When Advocaat arrived at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland were already struggling in 17th position, having just suffered a humiliating 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.

His predecessor, Gus Poyet, bequeathed a squad lacking in both confidence and talent, and with the transfer window long since shut, Advocaat has been unable to make any significant alterations during his short-term tenure.

Nevertheless, if the worst was to happen later this month, the Dutchman will not be attempting to distance himself from the repercussions. Temporary contract or no temporary contract, the 67-year-old insists the buck stops at his door.

“We are all working together,” said Advocaat. “We are working with the squad, and I will be very disappointed for this club if the worst happens because it is a big club and a great organisation.

“We are trying to do it for the club, and hopefully we can stay up, help with the set-up and that kind of thing. But if we go down, I’m not the kind of person who would say, ‘He (Poyet) did it – it’s his fault’. If we go down, I did it. I would take responsibility.”

Sunderland’s last victory came in the Wear-Tyne derby with Newcastle, and since then, both Hull and Leicester have claimed back-to-back wins that transformed the picture at the foot of the table.

Given that Leicester host a desperately out-of-form Newcastle in today’s lunch-time game, the Black Cats’ position could have worsened further by the time they kick off against Southampton, but even though recent results have conspired against his team, Advocaat remains confident survival is possible.

He concedes it will probably require another six or seven points though, so given that Sunderland end the season with trips to Arsenal and Chelsea, a positive result in today’s game would appear to be essential.

“There have been some strange results that we did not expect, but we have to do this by ourselves,” said Advocaat. “We cannot complain to anybody because, at the end of the season, you get a fair result for the season as a whole.

“Hopefully, we will be standing there, where we want to be, which is still in the Premier League. It is still in our hands if we get the six or seven points that we need. We (the coaching staff) still have the feeling that we will stay up, and hopefully the players think that as well.”

Seb Larsson is set to return to the starting line-up after missing the last two matches through suspension, but while Steven Fletcher has returned to training quicker than expected, he will not be risked today.

Wes Brown has also stepped up his own recovery programme, and the centre-half could feature in a development game at the start of next week with a view to being involved in the final four matches of the season.

In his absence, Sebastian Coates is set to continue alongside John O’Shea in preference to Santiago Vergini, and the Liverpool loanee was part of a second-half display at Stoke last weekend that Advocaat feels augurs well for today’s game.

“If we can play the way we played in the first 30 minutes of the second half against Stoke, I will be happy,” he said. “Stoke are a very difficult team to beat, so that is what we have to continue to do. I’ve seen a lot of the games from before I started, and that half an hour was the best I have seen.”

The worst half an hour probably came at St Mary’s earlier in the season as Sunderland suffered an 8-0 thrashing that represented the joint-heaviest defeat in the club’s entire history.

Advocaat has forced himself to watch October’s horror show, but opted not to sift through the wreckage with the members of his squad.

He feels the extent of Sunderland’s defeat was somewhat misleading, and is confident there will be no psychological impact when his players line up against the Saints again.

“I’ve watched the game back, and we know we have to do better than that day,” he said. “I’m sure they will do.

“By the way, it was a bit of a lucky day for Southampton with the way we gave the goals away, and I am sure that will definitely not happen again.

“It should not leave scars. That was seven months ago, and I think Sunderland now have a little bit of a different team.”