Allardyce: We’ll be relegated if we rely on others

But straight-talking Pardew pulled no punches after his side’s slump continued with a defeat at West Brom which extended their winless league run to 10 games.

Sam Allardyce has suggested his players do not fully realise the severity of Sunderland’s plight and has stressed the need for a victory against Crystal Palace at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference Pardew said “Are we in a relegation fight?”

Allardyce received an apathetic reaction from home fans on his return to Upton Park, despite taking the Hammers from the Championship and stabilising them in the Premier League during his four years at the club.

“The manager will have us in and put us right but we have a game coming up very soon so we have to focus on that”.

The Black Cats are now 19th in the league table, just one point adrift of safety.

He added: “The biggest pressure game for us is this game and the next one now, because we’re not going to be in control of anything the weekend after because we have a blank weekend because [scheduled opponents] Everton play in the FA Cup”.

“We might not play as well tomorrow night, we might not be able to take the pressure or create the chances we did at West Ham”.

The Black Cats boss has repeatedly bemoaned his side’s inability to keep clean sheets – they have not done so since November – and he knows that will be a challenge once again with Yannick Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha and former Sunderland frontman Connor Wickham at Palace’s disposal on Tuesday. “I’d rather be in our position than six or seven clubs in the division, so maybe we ain’t as bad as we feel”.

“If we don’t, and other teams get a result, the gap will be that big bigger and the pressure will be that much greater”.

Jan Kirchhoff has challenged his team-mates to push on from the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat and bounce back against Crystal Palace.

“Looking at Adebayor, I need to make sure I manage him properly going forward, and we need to look at the structure of the team, and it was a lot better in the second half”.

“We’re obviously on a form in the League that is not good, but we start games well and that was a shock to me”.