SAM ALLARDYCE wants Sunderland to start like a top six team in the Premier League next season and not save their best for another end of season relegation fight.

The Black Cats brought the curtain down on a ninth consecutive campaign in the top-flight with a 2-2 draw at Watford, where Allardycce made nine changes safe in the knowledge that he had already kept them up.

It meant he could hand Premier League debuts to young players Rees Greenwood, Tommy Robson and George Honeyman and was satisfied that Sunderland still finished with a point at Vicarage Road.

Sunderland lost just one of their final 11 matches to climb sufficiently clear of the relegation zone to preserve top-flight status, while rivals Newcastle United joined Norwich and Aston Villa in the Championship next season.

But Allardyce – who has another year on his contract - does not want a repeat next season and will be looking to make the changes over the summer to make Sunderland into a more formidable team.

“One would hope our finish carries over to next season,” he said. “I think confidence into next season is important. All the players will come back with a better spring in their step.

“We've averaged two points a game over the last six games – that's top six stuff. If we start the way we left off and gain our confidence again we can try to have a better season than we had this one.

“To think we've finished with 12 points in six games and only finished fourth bottom is pretty miraculous. Next season let's get 12 points in the first six games, not the last six.

“Stability only comes with results. Results keep you in a job or it doesn't. There's nothing else. The sooner you get more and more consistent results, the better.”

Allardyce plans to sit down with Sunderland owner Ellis Short early this week to try to come up with a transfer plan for the summer in a bid to build a better squad.

His immediate task will be to inform Seb Larsson if he is being handed a new deal, while loan signings Yann M’Vila, Ola Toivonen, Dame N’Doye and DeAndre Yedlin’s loan are due to end.

The Sunderland boss said: “Our recruitment was one of the biggest reasons we survived so the next set of recruitment will have to be as good.

“If we can do that we will build more stability, feel more confidence in our ability to stay in the Premier League and build a squad year in year out with signings and players from the academy.

“Then you can start thinking about getting to a cup final or if we will one day have a big enough squad to get into Europe. Those are long-term dreams and more stability helps.

“I haven't started to think about recruitment just yet, but my recruitment man has. We've got so much on hold because we didn't know what division we were in. Now we've got to catch up with the rest who were safe quite a while ago. We need to do that as quickly as we can.”

Sunderland took the lead twice at Watford through Jack Rodwell, six minutes before half-time, and Jeremain Lens, after half-time. But The Hornets responded twice with goals from Sebastian Prodl and a penalty from Troy Deeney.

But Allardyce, who had named the same team for the seven previous matches, was satisfied with not winning, even though he was frustrated with referee Kevin Friend’s performance. He was particularly annoyed by the officials’ decision to rule out a Duncan Watmore goal when he was onside.

He said: “It was a relief we were already done and dusted, especially with some of the decisions. Had we needed three points we would be in serious trouble because of what some of the officials deemed to be offside and a penalty we didn't think was a penalty.

“We're really glad that those major decisions, which we had no control over, have not affected our status in this league.

“The reason I made so many changes was that the players who had made us safe had no need to come out and exert themselves more and put themselves through the mill as they had for the last seven games on the trot.

“The emphasis was on the players who hadn't played as much was to come in and take the challenge and show me what they've got for next season. It was up to the young lads to say, 'I would love to have this opportunity on a regular basis.' All those players performed very well indeed and matched up Watford.

“We had a very good performance from the 11 players who don't play on a regular basis, yet matched a Watford side that was at full strength on their own ground.

“It was a terrific finish to the season for me – 12 points in the last six games and to finish undefeated was very important. It's been a really good end to what's been a difficult season.”