Eliezer Mayenda delivers 'confident' Sunderland promotion verdict amid Burnley and West Brom competition

Eliezer Mayenda has insisted his Sunderland teammates are “confident” heading into the Championship run-in amid promotion competition from Burnley and West Brom.

Sunderland returned to winning ways by beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on Friday night as Mayenda’s brace saw a much-changed Sunderland side secure a crucial win at Hillsborough in the Championship. The Black Cats look nailed on to bag a play-off slot this season and are still in with an outside shot of going up automatically.

However, the Black Cats are facing competition from Sheffield United and Burnley for the top-two while also keeping one eye on the play-off race, with Tony Mowbray’s West Brom entering the top-six alongside further competition from Blackburn Rovers and Coventry City.

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“Really, I don't know,” Mayenda said when asked about Sunderland’s promotion hopes after the game against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night at Hillsborough. “We will see. But I'm confident. I'm confident. Everybody's confident in the team. I think the fans too.”

He added: “Yeah, we can do everything. We can do everything. We need to fight in every game. We need to fight in every game to stay in a good team spirit and to believe. The most important thing is to believe in ourselves and keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing. We will see. But we have a really good team.”

Mayenda continued regarding Sunderland’s good season under head coach Régis Le Bris: “The gaffer did really good work. He organised the team really well. I'm very happy because we can see the result because every player works every day on the training ground. And it's really good because everybody can see the result on the pitch. It's a brilliant work for the gaffer and for the players too because we stay connected with him.”