'Pretty sure we will...': Tony Mowbray makes bullish Sunderland prediction despite frustrating form

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray says he fully believes his side will be in the mix for the play-offs at the end of the season despite their recent frustration.

The Black Cats face Norwich City on Saturday having dropped to tenth in the table following three Championship defeats, though they impressed in a narrow loss to Leicester City on Tuesday night.

Mowbray insists that performances are at a good level and that as long his side maintain that, positive results will soon follow.

"Generally, I think the overall identity of the team is still strong and we believe that over the longer piece, if we play as well as we know we can, we will win plenty of games," Mowbray said.

"I'm sure we are more than capable of winning three or four on the bounce as we go forward and it will all balance out. The good teams, the better teams, finish at the top end and the less-structured teams finish at the other end.

"I'm pretty sure we will finish at the top end, but there are a lot of good teams in this league who are going to be very competitive.

Last season there were ups and downs just like this season.

"The data is there, we have lost three on the bounce and we just have to accept it, and yet it is tough to take given the way those games have panned out.It'll turn for us, of that I'm sure.

"The performance level of the team is high, and if the performance level of the team remains high, results will follow. It doesn't always mean that if you play well, you are going to win, but generally if you have a consistency about what you do, how you train, how you play, the results will follow.

"We have a lot of faith in that. We're not doing anything different to last year, we lost some games last year and had some spells of difficulty, but you come out the other end and that's what you have to do.

"I think the team is a really good team and we should be judged at the end of the season on how many points we accrue," he added. "That's how I look at football. I want them to play well, I want them to be competitive, I want them to enjoy it. The job is to be ultra-competitive in every game, win, lose or draw, and I think we are.

"We want to be competitive in this division and try to put a decent team together for the supporters. Yes, we get disappointed if we don't win football matches but the journey carries on and I'm pretty relaxed.

"We've got three points less than Burnley had at this stage last season, so we shouldn't be too unhappy. We're three points off third in the league. There's been plenty of good this season, and of course some things to work on, but that's football.

"I've got every faith that come May we'll be in the mix. We might not be very close to Leicester City, but we'll be in the mix for where we need to be."

Norwich City themselves arrive with just one win in their last five games.