ELLIS SHORT is desperate for David Moyes to lift Sunderland out of the doldrums and into a brighter future despite the growing pressure on the manager after a disastrous start to the Premier League season.

Short, the club’s London-based American owner, is understood to have had discussions with Moyes since Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats sit seven points adrift of safety after just ten matches and the two point tally is the worst in the club’s entire history at this stage.

Criticism of Moyes has grown among the fans, although there is also still a large degree of support for him given the problems he has had to deal with since taking over from Sam Allardyce in July.

Short claims to have wanted the former Everton boss to lead Sunderland on a number of previous occasions and he remains hopeful he can turn things around soon enough to lead a survival charge.

Moyes also retains huge support from chief executive Martin Bain, who indicated only 12 days ago that the manager was part of a long term strategy to transform the club’s fortunes.

Since then, however, Sunderland have lost to West Ham United and Arsenal in the league as well as suffering an EFL Cup exit at Southampton.

While there was an acceptance that the Gunners have far greater quality than Sunderland, there will not be such sympathy around if the wait for a win does not end in either of their next two matches.

Moyes will take his team to Bournemouth – who have claimed ten points from 15 at home so far - on Saturday before facing fellow strugglers Hull City after the international break; two fixtures which would present realistic opportunities to collect points in normal circumstances.

Short handed the 53-year-old a four-year deal in the summer when he successfully persuaded “his first choice for the last five appointments” to succeed Allardyce, so sacking him would also cost him a decent amount of compensation.

It is also widely known that Short would listen to offers for the club, having had discussions with a Chinese consortium about investment or taking over. Nothing is imminent at this stage, however.

Moyes has been honest in his assessment of the squad from the moment he walked through the doors at the Academy of Light training ground in July and thinks January will be a huge month if he can convince Short to spend more money.

But the chairman is not keen on doing that given the significant debts Sunderland have already accrued during his time in control, so they may have to be creative in the transfer market again.

Sunderland can’t afford to even think about the transfer window because at this rate the gap to safety will keep growing, which is why the next couple of games are huge in terms of giving everyone a potential lift.

Moyes is banking on a few players being back to fitness this week and Swedish midfielder Seb Larsson – who has the experience of previous relegation battles – is likely to be a surprise inclusion at the Vitality Stadium.

Larsson has not played this season after rupturing his medial knee ligament and there were fears he would not play again in 2016. His progress, however, has stunned everyone and he is ready for a return to the squad.

Adnan Januzaj made his comeback from injury against Arsenal and there is also a strong chance that Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchhoff and Jason Denayer will be involved on the south coast this weekend. John O’Shea is being assessed after hobbling off against Arsenal with hamstring trouble.

Sunderland’s position will have a detrimental effect on any recruitment ideas that are in place come January, and it looks like they may now miss out on re-signing French midfielder Yann M’Vila.

The 26-year-old agreed to move to Sunderland as a free agent at the end of his deal with Rubin Kazan but joining last summer was quashed after the Wearside club’s refusal not to pay the £8m asking price.

M’Vila, who claimed to be heartbroken when the deal didn’t happen in August, has been back in the first team at Rubin and is set for fresh contract talks.