Sunderland midfielder Sebastian Larsson feels that his side's run of games over the Christmas period gives them an excellent chance of hauling themselves out of trouble.
Gus Poyet's side face bottom-half clubs Norwich City, Cardiff City and Aston Villa in three of their next four games over the next 10 days, which also includes a trip to Everton.
Larsson told the club's official website: "It's a great opportunity to try and get up the league and drag ourselves out of trouble; if you put a decent run together over Christmas you find yourself in a very different position coming into January.
"They've put a decent run together. We're not looking for any games to be easy at this stage of the season, it'd be lovely if it was but that's never going to be the case.
"We know if we can play to the standards that we've set ourselves in the last couple of games then we've got a good chance of winning."
The Black Cats are 20th in the Premier League on nine points after 16 games this season.
Simon Sinclair
