Lee Cattermole hails influence of Sunderland's senior pros
Lee Cattermole is doing his talking on and off the pitch as Sunderland attempt to dig themselves out of relegation trouble for a fourth successive season.
The combative midfielder has become a key member of Sam Allardyce's team in recent weeks, wearing the captain's armband in the absence of John O'Shea and playing some of his best football for some time in the club's hour of need.
However, he has revealed he is not alone in keeping spirits within the dressing room high with O'Shea, Wes Brown and Sebastian Larsson, who like Cattermole were all signed by former boss Steve Bruce, still strong influences despite not making it into the starting XI.
The 28-year-old former Middlesbrough and Wigan midfielder said: "If you see the players who've been here since Steve bought us, then it's important they don't get overlooked.
"Sheasy, Wes and Seb Larsson - they've been the core of the team for the last three or four years and had a massive say in us staying up.
"They're still now rallying around the dressing room, which you wouldn't expect to see from lads who aren't playing. But I wouldn't expect to see anything else from them.
"I've been the same this season; been left out the team, changing positions and you find yourself frustrated. But you've got to look away from yourself at times and think if the manager thinks it's the best thing for the team, then you have to follow him.
"We've got a lot of good professionals in the squad and it's important we can do this again and hopefully not find ourselves in this position again."
O'Shea, 34, has not started a game since the 2-2 home draw with Crystal Palace on March 1 while 30-year-old Larsson last got the nod against Stoke on November 28 and Brown, 36, has only six appearances to his name all season.
While Allardyce will be grateful for the influence of his senior players off the pitch, the club's recent improvement has coincided with the January arrivals of Lamine Kone, Jan Kirchhoff and Wahbi Khazri and the return to fitness of Younes Kaboul.
However, their work is far from done and Arsenal's visit to Wearside on Sunday will test that team spirit to its limits, although Allardyce is confident it will hold.
He said: "We have a very good dressing room, remarkably good for the position we have been in for most of the season. The players have come together since the turn of the year as well.
"The new players who have come in have been welcomed in and there's a remarkably good team spirit amongst the players that I have noticed that I wouldn't have expected to be quite as harmonious as it is.
"They really do seem to enjoy each other's company and have a relatively good bond, which I think can only be good for our fight, because it looks like they are fighting for each other as well as themselves."
Sunderland hope to have defender DeAndre Yedlin (ankle) fit. Jack Rodwell will return from illness but fellow midfielder Jeremain Lens is a doubt after going down with a virus.
Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal can deal with playing on Thursday and Sunday as they look to maintain their push for a top-three finish.
The Gunners comfortably beat West Brom on a rare Thursday night outing and travel to Sunderland looking to stay ahead of Manchester City.
While other teams played earlier in the week, Arsenal had to make do with a game just three days ahead of their weekend clash.
But Wenger is not worried and feels the experiences of plenty of midweek Champions League fixtures is perfect preparation for his players.
"Between Thursday and Sunday and Wednesday and Saturday morning is exactly the same," he said.
"You know we played on Wednesday night at Barcelona and then on Saturday against Everton at 12.45pm.
"It's no problem. In fact there's a very interesting study that has come out from UEFA that shows that the points taken by the teams three days later are not less than after four or five days.
"It's the opposite and that is quite interesting. The study has been made in all the five best leagues in Europe. Nobody has proven that it is a disadvantage to have only three days rest.
"The points on average are better than after four or five days."
Wenger has no fresh injury concerns but does have a decision to make on whether to include Jack Wilshere in his squad for the first time this season after the midfielder recovered from a broken fibula.
Santi Cazorla (Achilles) and Tomas Rosicky (thigh) are back in training but are not expected to feature while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee) is out.
Source: PAR
