Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher believes that the new style of play implemented by head coach Gus Poyet will keep the Black Cats in the Premier League.

The North-East outfit currently linger in the bottom two of the table having taken just seven points from 11 games.

"We have a great opportunity now with the new gaffer and the new staff he has brought in," the Northern Echo quotes Fletcher as saying. "They are trying to change the way we are playing and that's for the better.

"The manager wants us to keep the ball a lot more and we know if we do that we are not going to get rolled over by other teams, so we have been trying to do that."

Poyet replaced Paolo Di Canio, who was sacked by Sunderland just five games into the 2013-14 domestic season.