Sunderland have to ignore Crystal Palace v Norwich crunch clash tomorrow

Sunderland could be seven points adrift of safety when they kick-off against league leaders Leicester City on Sunday, with fourth-bottom Norwich City facing sinking Crystal Palace 24 hours earlier.

A victory for the Canaries would see them move level with Palace on 34 points, to leave Sam Allardyce’s men with a giant task to catch either.

But while Borini acknowledges that Sunderland cannot afford to suffer a defeat in next week’s trip to Carrow Road, he says the Black Cats can only focus on hampering Leicester’s title bid this weekend.

“We try to win every game, and the one down at Norwich we can’t afford to lose,” said the Sunderland forward.

“But I think we only have to concentrate on ourselves, rather than looking at the table.

“That will only get our confidence down. We have to believe in ourselves and push ourselves to the limit.”

Sunderland have suffered just one defeat in their last seven games, yet draws in the last four have propelled them back into the relegation zone.

Last weekend’s stalemate against West Brom was the latest chapter in Sunderland securing a draw from the jaws of victory.

But Borini insists the self-belief in the Sunderland camp remains healthy after Allardyce’s side have provided plenty of evidence that they have the capabilities of remaining in the Premier League.

“We’re not low on confidence because in the last seven games, we’ve only lost one,” added the Italian.

“We’ve drawn loads of games, but only lost one, which is the main thing.

“If something turns - a bit of luck - and we get a win, then that’ll be good.

“We kept a clean sheet against West Brom, but didn’t score the goals, because the keeper made some unbelievable saves.

“I had two shots and he made two great saves, which most of the time, they go in.

“It just wouldn’t go in for us.”