IN recent years, expectancy and Sunderland have hardly gone hand-in-hand. As the Black Cats tumbled down two divisions, the only expectation ahead of a home game at the Stadium of Light was that another defeat was almost certainly on the way.

Today, however, things are different. Having started the League One season with a bang, picking up 13 points from their first five matches, Sunderland host Oxford United this afternoon with the tag of heavy favourites hanging around their neck.

With a crowd of more than 30,000 anticipating a comfortable victory, anything less than another three points will be regarded as a failure.

That brings a pressure that Sunderland have not been accustomed to for quite some time, but having guided St Mirren to the Championship title in Scotland last season, the club’s manager, Jack Ross, knows how to keep a winning run going.

He has been keen to dismiss any talk of entitlement, no doubt mindful that Sunderland’s 23 League One rivals are desperate to give the title favourites a bloody nose. However, that does not mean he wants to talk down his players’ credentials or discourage them from feeling like winners every time they walk on to the field.

“In one of my first press conferences, I spoke about the expectations of this job,” said the Sunderland boss. “I’ve always welcomed it.

“It drives you towards reaching targets, and makes you continually strive towards getting better. I think if I feel like that and my staff do, it very quickly feeds to the players.

“I would like to stay where are in the table, or rather go top and stay there, and if that leads to expectancy then great – it's just a reflection that you're doing well.

“I think that rather than being a burden, it can help. Last season, I had a group of players who believed they would win every week – they didn’t, but they believed they were very difficult to beat and they didn’t lose at home in 14 months.”

Ross would love to achieve a similar run of success on Wearside, and while the Stadium of Light has hardly been an inviting environment in the last few years, the current squad are not weighed down by the baggage of previous failings.

The current campaign began with a dramatic home win over Charlton, and the recent 3-0 victory over Scunthorpe will have been noted by Sunderland’s League One opponents.

Scunthorpe were blown away in the space of half-an-hour, and if Sunderland can make the Stadium of Light a venue that opposition players are fearful of visiting, it can only be to their advantage as they look to secure a rapid return to the Championship.

“The players are already excited about being back at home,” said Ross. “They know having that support behind you is powerful. I’ve spoken to some of the players that have been here, and they speak about the season we stayed up in the Premier League and talk about the noise levels in the stadium for the Everton and Chelsea games. They say the Everton game was incredible, and some of them have experienced having that behind them.

“We’re not quite at that level in terms of the numbers in the stadium, but it’s a noisy fan-base that can be behind you. They’re starting to get excited about playing at home again, which is a brilliant thing.

“It should be like that because of what we have to our advantage, it’s just about making sure we continue it. If we have a bump, which we will at some point, then we have to make sure we don’t come away from that easily. That resilience is something you have to build over time.”

Resilience is one of Ross’ buzz words, along with relentlessness. Sunderland’s resilience has not really been tested yet as their only defeat came in a Carabao Cup game with Sheffield Wednesday, but their manager has constantly stressed the need to be relentless, urging his players not to take their foot off the gas.

In terms of talent, Sunderland boast the best squad in the league. It is Ross’ job to ensure his players have the mentality and character to match, and the early signs on that score are extremely positive, with the Black Cats having overturned losing positions at both Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon to claim six points from two tricky away games.

“We need to be resilient because we’re going to be tested,” he said. “We’ve seen that in these last two away games – and we need to be relentless. That covers training as well. As soon as we stop training in the way we are at the moment, then we don’t give ourselves the best opportunity to win games.

“If you watch us train just now, the players train at a pace and an intensity that’s reflected in their performances. That’s my responsibility. As soon as I come off that in training, they’ll come off it. My staff and I are at it in training, and that then means they train at an intensity that becomes the norm for them in games.

“It sounds very simple, but it’s just a reinforcement of these messages every single day. It can be done in different ways, in meetings or on the pitch, but then the players start to do it themselves and my job becomes easier.

“To win a league at any level, and I saw this last year, you have to be relentless. It’s hard, it’s tiring, it’s draining, but it’s rewarding if you get there. That’s the approach we’re taking, and I think we’ve got a group that buy in to that. Their voices have grown, and if you have players in the changing room delivering the same message you’re trying to get across, that obviously helps as well.”