Sunderland are set to embark on a testing run of fixtures.

Kevin Phillips has urged Sunderland to rediscover their “ruthless” streak as they gear up for a testing run of Premier League fixtures.

The Black Cats are currently rooted to the foot of the top flight table, having taken just five points from their opening nine matches this season. On Sunday afternoon, the Wearsiders will host Chelsea at the Stadium of Light, before coming up against Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, and Liverpool. Regis Le Bris’ men will then travel to St. James’ Park to face bitter rivals Newcastle United on December 6th.

And speaking exclusively to The Echo, courtesy of BestBettingSites, Phillips has argued that Sunderland must dig deep over the coming weeks to deal with the challenges ahead. He said: “It's not easy, is it? And I think there are two European games in between that as well, so they're travelling.

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“It's extremely difficult - absolutely extremely difficult. But all I can say is that I'm sure Regis Le Bris won't be looking that far ahead. He won't be looking any further than the European game on Thursday, and then Chelsea on Sunday. So you have to take each game as it comes, but they're tough fixtures.

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“But any game that Sunderland have at the Stadium of Light, starting on Sunday, they've shown last season, and at times this season - like against Arsenal - that they're capable of getting results. And they need to go back to being that ruthless Sunderland, keeping clean sheets, defending better, like they were last season.”

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