SUNDERLAND are treating every game like a Champions League final in the battle to avoid relegation, and goalkeeper Vito Mannone is confident the approach will lead to end of season celebrations on Wearside.

The Black Cats have struggled in and around the bottom three throughout the campaign but managed to climb out on Sunday when they recorded a third clean sheet from the last four matches when Arsenal left the Stadium of Light with just a point.

The outcome of that fixture, a week after comprehensively beating fellow strugglers Norwich City, has filled the players with greater belief that they can fight off the challenge of both the Canaries and Newcastle United below them.

A lot has been made of the fixtures the three teams have remaining, but the reality is Sunderland will stay up by recording as many points as both Norwich and Newcastle between now and the end of the season; they also have a game in hand to play on the Magpies.

Sam Allardyce’s team will play out-of-sorts Stoke City this Saturday before home dates with Chelsea and Everton are followed by a final day trip to Watford.

Mannone said: “It’s a strange feeling. You go in with pressure, but if you manage to change the pressure in a positive way, really pushing to do something special, then it feels like a Champions League final every game.

“I know we are fighting to stay in the Premier League, but that’s our Champions League really. In our heads. All we have to do is stay positive and wait for another final to come.

“It’s Stoke next and that’s another three points. That’s what we have to do, as we have learned from past survivals and from other teams like Leicester. You don’t care who you play against, you just go out to try to win the games.”

Having previously gone 17 games without keeping a clean sheet, Sunderland have prevented the opposition from scoring in three of the last four games.

A key factor in that has been the partnership of Younes Kaboul and Lamine Kone at the back, although the protection being provided by Jan Kirchhoff in front of them has been key too.

But Mannone has also had to make his fair share of good saves to help Sunderland improve their form, and he thinks keeping Arsenal at bay on Sunday highlights the progress being made.

The Italian keeper said: “We knew how tough it would be to come away with a clean sheet against a great opponent. I think whether Arsenal are home or away, they don’t really care.

“They just have possession and play their one-twos, and try all sorts of tricks to try to score goals. They are really good going forward, but I thought we did very well defensively. We look solid. I said a few games ago we look much more solid now. Hopefully, it is the clean sheets that can keep us up.

“It was a very good point for us, although obviously with the situation we are in, if one of the chances had gone in, it would have been a great bonus three points for us.

“At the end of the day, we got a nice point against a good Arsenal side, and another clean sheet was all we could ask for. Going forward, we need to maintain this standard and hopefully score from a few of the chances we create.”

Players, fans and pundits will be working out what is required to stay up but Mannone, while admitting they are keeping an eye on other results, knows Sunderland’s own form will dictate who goes down having climbed out of the bottom three.

He said: “Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. All you have to do is keep going. I think you could see that all of our heads are in the right direction. We stick to the game plan that the manager gives us and we are doing things right – putting pressure on opponents, even opponents like Arsenal.

“That is never easy, but hopefully we are going to look at the calendar and it doesn’t matter if we play Chelsea or Everton or whoever we play. It’s Stoke next, and that is going to be a tough one, but hopefully we can make the most of them not really fighting for points. But if that is not the case, we need to be at our best.

“We definitely followed the score of Newcastle, but we trained and were focused on our own game. That is what we have to do. It matters what other people do, but we have four games to go and we are in front at the moment and we need to stay there. We have to win our own games and then it doesn’t matter about Newcastle or Norwich.

“It’s nice to be out with four games to go and to be in the leading position. Newcastle have one game less and it’s nice to be there. It’s down to us.”