Allardyce wants Sunderland to find ‘big-game mentality’

REUTERS – Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has challenged his players to rediscover their “big-game mentality”, which helped secure vital Premier League wins against Aston Villa and Swansea City, when they host 15th-placed Bournemouth on Saturday.

Sunderland, second from bottom in the standings, beat fellow relegation strugglers Villa and Swansea in successive league games before losing 4-1 at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.

“Our big-game mentality will come into play again when we face Bournemouth; it was like that against Aston Villa and Swansea City so we hope we can keep that mentality going,” Allardyce told the club’s website (www.safc.com).

“When we’ve needed that result we’ve pulled it off and we certainly need that next week against a team that is in and around us. We need to make sure we’ve caught up points on Bournemouth by the end of next Saturday.”

After Saturday’s clash with Bournemouth, who have six points more than the Black Cats, Sunderland host third-placed Manchester City and then travel to take on Liverpool.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Justin Palmer)