A THIRD straight Sunderland victory could cement a place in the Premier League this afternoon and then Seb Larsson wants a summer inquest in to what has gone wrong at the Stadium of Light - again.

The Swede was crowned the club’s player of the year this week but he does not think he can appreciate the honour until relegation is certain to be avoided.

With three matches remaining, two of which follow next week at both Arsenal and Chelsea, the focus is on delivering three points today knowing a win for either could keep Sunderland or Leicester City up.

That is the scenario Larsson is dreaming about and if it comes true he is desperate for a gathering of minds during the close season to try to stop the trend of being involved in such nerve-jangling end of season scraps.

This is the third year in a row Larsson, familiar with relegation because of suffering it twice during his time at Birmingham, has endured concerns at this stage of the campaign with Sunderland. Having signed a contract dated until the summer of 2017, though, he does not want a repeat next year.

Larsson said: “We need to make sure we stay in the Premier League and the players, whoever the manager is and the people higher up in the club, need to have a good look at what needs to be done and what everyone individually needs to do.

“We need more points at the start of a season. It’s simple. The way we do it is something collectively we have to come up with. I don’t have the answers now but I will definitely have a good think myself. I will work out what I need to do and what everyone else needs to do. I will give my opinion.”

He added: “Obviously something is not going right and I don’t have the answers right now. I have not thought about it too much because of the situation we have been in.

“Now we have had some important games where we have turned up and that tells you we can handle the pressure. We perform under pressure. We need to make sure we don’t end up in that situation but that’s for the future.”

Larsson turns 30 before the players reconvene for pre-season training in July so as one of the more experienced members of the squad he feels well placed to have his beliefs and opinions listened to.

He said: “That’s the frustrating part, it’s been like that this season, it’s been like that for too many seasons. For some reason, we’ve had chances to move clear of trouble and we haven’t taken them.

“We had stayed pretty much in the same position until a few weeks ago when we dropped into the bottom three. We haven’t won enough games, it’s simple. The table won’t lie at the end of the season. We have to just make sure we are in the Premier League again next season.”

Larsson last went down with Birmingham in 2011 and had hoped his move to Wearside would lead to an upturn in fortunes at club level. That has not been the case and the frustrations he has felt are highlighted by the fact Dick Advocaat is the fifth boss he has worked under at the Stadium of Light.

“It’s not nice when you go down,” said Larsson. “You know what it’s like, you know what the pressure feels like, the type of pressure you get, it’s tough. But when you have been there before and you have been successful in terms of survival, it does help.

“You can draw on those experiences. It’s about holding your nerve as much as anything, keeping calm as much as you can and we have done that the last couple of games. We have performed when the pressure is on. It will be the same this Saturday against Leicester.

“Both relegations were painful. It’s something you don’t want to experience and once you’ve done it you don’t want to do it again. I don’t want to have to re-live that feeling, going away in the summer after relegation is horrible.

“I’m sick of relegation battles. Mentally it’s tough more than anything. Everyone knows how much it means to everyone to be in the Premier League. There is such a difference with other leagues money wise, what it means to the club, the pressure is massive. But you have to stay calm and focus on the games, nothing else.”

Advocaat’s appointment until the end of the season has brought rewards. Sunderland have won three of their last five matches, including impressively defeating Everton at Goodison Park a week ago.

The experienced Dutchman has got everyone united as a group and that has been one of the biggest factors in the turnaround, with all eyes focused on a visit of Leicester which could see Sunderland stay up if Hull lose at Tottenham.

Larsson said: “I was honoured to receive the player of the year award because it was the award the fans voted for, so obviously it means a lot, but I won’t be able to really appreciate it until we are safe. If we can sort the situation out, and still be in the Premier League next season, then I will enjoy it even more. It becomes more meaningful.

“It would be very nice to do it this weekend because of the games. When Burnley were winning at Hull last week, it was not as thrilling as us winning at Everton but we were very aware of what was going on.

“A lot of the boys were on their phones checking the scores, without a doubt because it makes a huge difference for us if teams around us win or not. We have three games to go and they have got two games. Hopefully we can do it and then enjoy the last two games.”