SAM ALLARDYCE is not prepared to consider what the financial implications are for Sunderland if they fail to fight off relegation to the Championship – and is targeting a top ten Premier League spot instead.

The Wearside club this week posted a £25m loss for the 2014-15 financial year and it provided a reminder of just how important staying in the top-flight of English football is.

Next season will see a huge increase in guaranteed prize money just for appearing in the Premier League, so Sunderland owner Ellis Short is desperate for Allardyce to work his magic and keep them up.

Sunderland, who reported a wage bill of £70m which ranks them in the division’s top ten clubs, have battled to beat relegation in almost every season since they were promoted in 2007 and there has been a high turnover on the playing staff.

Allardyce thinks a more streetwise approach to squad investment will be what he preaches from the manager’s office, particularly if he can keep Sunderland among the country’s elite 20 clubs.

“It’s nothing to do with me … going forward, we need to spend the money very wisely,” said Allardyce. “That is my responsibility with Ellis Short, when we stay in the Premier League, to say ‘we will not waste money, as it has been wasted by past managers’.

“We need to make sure we don’t do that, because it is the way forward - recruitment. Better recruitment, better players is something we have to strive for if we can stay in the Premier League.”

Allardyce accepts Sunderland’s nine-year top-flight stay is in a perilous position after Newcastle United’s victory over Crystal Palace lifted the Tynesiders above their Wearside counterparts by a point.

But Sunderland have a game in hand and will stay up if they can win their remaining games, starting against Chelsea tomorrow. Everton travel to the North-East on Wednesday before the final day trip to Watford.

Allardyce is still confident his players can pull off another escape and believes there is enough to suggest Sunderland can make greater strides next year under his watch – if they stay up.

He said: “We have just got to stay in the Premier League and worry about building a new team for next year that is going to be capable of finishing tenth. That is the goal. After that, I can’t even think about anything other than that until our fate is decided.”

Defeating Chelsea, who brought Tottenham’s title dream to an end on Monday, will be a tough challenge. Allardyce has urged his players to stay cool and not let the pressure of the occasion get to them, like it did to Spurs at Stamford Bridge.

Allardyce said: “My hope is the players will remember what they need to do. It will be about making sure that you play the game in the right way and don't let the occasion overcome you.

“We'll have a full house of Sunderland fans, a full house willing us, cheering us, supporting us to try to achieve a result to get another miraculous escape from a team that's threatened with relegation once again, and we hope we can deliver.

“My job is to hopefully make sure they stay focused and are able to produce under the pressure the performance they need to - and if they don't keep the mental side correct, that will be the problem.

“You saw it in Tottenham, I think, on Monday night when they lost the plot. We can't afford to do that. We have to stay focused from start to finish.

“Tottenham lost a goal then lost the plot mentally, so then all of a sudden, all the talent they have in that side just went by the way and they ended up not only losing the game, but doing the strangest thing I've ever seen a Tottenham side do, and that's get nine players booked and make some quite ferocious tackles at the same time. We cannot afford for that to happen to our team.”

Sunderland turned in a disappointing display at Stoke City last weekend when a late Jermain Defoe penalty earned a point, while Newcastle narrowly edged to victory over Palace at St James’ Park.

Alan Pardew described Allardyce’s pre-match comments – by suggesting the Eagles would have been ‘on the pop’ after claiming a FA Cup final place – as pre-historic after the game.

Allardyce, who has a doubt surrounding the fitness of full-back Billy Jones, responded: “It’s just a reaction to me winding him up. It obviously worked didn’t it.

“That’s done and dusted now. It’s finished and we are still in the race. We have still got a game in hand and if we win all three and they win their two, Norwich win three, then we stay up. We have still got it in our own hands.”