Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole has insisted that the squad is behind manager Gus Poyet as they bid to secure Premier League survival.

The Black Cats currently sit seven points adrift of safety following Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Everton, but they do have two games in hand on most of their relegation rivals.

Cattermole believes that Poyet and the team can take encouragement from their performance against the Toffees.

"We definitely still believe in the manager," he told The Journal. "It has been a really strange season, but we'll come to all that at the end of it.

"But the lads fully back the manager, training has been good and anybody at the stadium today would see that the fans have backed us all the way. We're very grateful.

"That's the first time I've played on the losing side at Sunderland and not been booed, so it was a sign of appreciation at the performance I thought."

Sunderland's next match is at Manchester City on Wednesday evening.