Former Sunderland goalkeeper and fan favourite Jordan Pickford has backed his old team to stay up in the Championship this year.

The young goalkeeper really shone last season in the Premier League for the Black Cats as many of his team-mates did not on their way down to the second tier.

Pickford, though, moved to Everton where he has quickly become number 1 and he looks set to challenge for the World Cup squad for sure this summer.

In the meantime, though, his former side is really struggling for form in the second tier and is once again embroiled in another survival scrap as the League One trap-door remains firmly on their minds.

Pickford, though, is backing his former side to get out of trouble with them having plenty of games left to turn it around.

As quoted by the Sunderland Echo, he said:

“There are 12 games left, a lot of points to play for and it is only four points the gap.

“We will be alright, we have done it before."

The Verdict

Pickford is right, Sunderland do have a history of turning things around in a relegation fight but they had better players than they do now.

Even so, those sides around them also have worse players than those sides in the Premier League and so they can still get safe.

It's certainly going to be a close run thing, though.

Thoughts, Sunderland fans? Let us know below!