VITO MANNONE is confident Sunderland have what it takes to climb out of the Premier League’s bottom three, even though he is not expecting any favours from some of old friends this weekend.

Arsenal will head to the Stadium of Light on Sunday with the 13-point gap to leaders Leicester City too wide to close inside the final five matches of the season.

But the Gunners are still in need of points to stay ahead of Manchester United in the battle for a Champions League place, while they are also keen chase down Tottenham and Manchester City above them.

Sunderland's need is greater, though, given their position in the relegation zone and are intent on building on the 3-0 victory at Norwich City on Saturday which has brought fresh hope of survival.

The Sunderland goalkeeper, who left the Emirates after 13 years in the summer of 2013, said: “I would be happy with a clean sheet in that one but it will never be easy against Arsenal.

“They’re a tough team to play and I know better than anyone that any chance they have to go on the pitch and perform they do it. We need points and whether it is Arsenal or Norwich we need to get them.

“I know a few of them still there. Even the coaches – I still have a good relationship with them. We welcome them to Sunderland but hopefully we can win.”

Sunderland have repeatedly been involved in end of the season relegation fights over the last few years and there seems to be even greater nerves going into the final stretch this time around. Two of Sunderland, Newcastle and Norwich will be joining Aston Villa in the Championship next season.

Mannone said: “We have got out of it previous years but I am not proud of it if we do it again. I would like to have a nice season and enjoy it – to push for higher places. But this is where we are again and we need to work to try to achieve something unbelievable.”

If Sunderland are to claim maximum points against Arsenal then they will need to record back-to-back victories for only the second time this season; the first time since November when they defeated Crystal Palace and Stoke City.

Mannone, who had lost his place to Costel Pantilimon at the stage, said: “That is a problem to win regularly. We have missed chances to win games like we did against Southampton, Newcastle and West Brom. It has put more pressure on us – we nearly did it in the derby but it finished 1-1.

“I think we know we can do it and the Norwich game has helped because we scored goals and kept a clean sheet in the same match.

“We know we have to dig in, each one of us has to perform at the highest level. We looked more compact at Norwich and didn’t make the same mistakes of the past.

“All over the pitch we kept our nerve and we performed really well as a team. That is what was much needed. We went there for the three points and won 3-0, a clean sheet was the best we could ask for. It is difficult – to go away from home at Norwich and they pushed for their goals. We maintained our nerve, kept calm and controlled the game.”

Sunderland’s chances of survival have been boosted by the return to fitness of Duncan Watmore. He marked his first-team comeback by scoring the third at Norwich after he was introduced at half-time.

It was his first outing since rupturing ankle ligaments at Liverpool in February. The 22-year-old said: “A lot of credit goes to the medical department at the club for getting me back ahead of schedule. They’ve worked really hard with me.

“It’s great to get that goal and show the hard work has paid off. The staff just wanted me to stretch the game and take us up the pitch, and make sure we got people in the right areas. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to go straight back in and get that 45 minutes.”