Sunderland can stay in the Premier League - they have an advantage other teams don't have

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Former Sunderland winger Nicky Summerbee believes the Black Cats have enough to stay in the top flight this season boasting an advantage over their rivals in one key area. The Wearsiders have taken 11 points from their opening seven Premier League games so far this season.

No newly promoted side, who had taken 11 points from their opening ten games, has been relegated from the Premier League. However, Sunderland know they need to continue that momentum given no newly promoted Championship side has survived in the top flight in the last two Premier League seasons.

Regis Le Bris' side spent over £140million in the summer transfer market to give themselves the best opportunity possible of staying in the top tier after eight gruelling years away.

"To see what happened last season and all of a sudden getting back to the Premier League , it was so vitally important that Sunderland did that with the fanbase they have," Summerbee exclusively told the Mirror , via Casino Sites. "We all know about the difficulties they had from when they went down the last time.

"The way the club is now organised, with the manager as well, it was vitally important for me how they started off. They started off getting points on the board and looking comfortable.

"It's exciting but you have to be careful in the Premier League, it can change at any point. I see the way they play and they're not taking the gamble of coming up and trying to play like Pep Guardiola .

"They're direct when they have to be and they can mix it as well. They work on their set pieces and I like that. If you get the basics right you have a real opportunity.

"Did I think they'd do as well as what they'd do at this period of the season? No, not at all. I thought it might be a bit difficult because it's hard to adapt when you come up to the Premier League and especially now with the gap being so big. You've got to be happy with that start."

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Summerbee was part of the Sunderland side that missed out on promotion to the Premier League in 1997-98. The Black Cats drew 4-4 with Charlton Athletic but were beaten 7-6 on penalties with Micky Gray missing the all-important spot kick.

"When we went up we had players that had been there, seen it and done it," Summerbee said when asked about Sunderland's recent summer transfer business and whether he'd been surprised by it.

"[Kevin] Bally had done it, Micky [Gray] was coming through but they brought Bouldy [Steve Bould] in, Niall Quinn. We had a mixture of players that hadn't played in the Premier League and players that had been there.

"That was vitally important and when I saw [Granit] Xhaka coming in I thought 'yes they need that.' That's the one question mark I was looking at. Where is the experience to help these players along?

"When it gets tough you need that type of player and we had a dressing room full of that. That was sprinkled in with the likes of Kevin Phillips and how fortunate we were to have him, £400,000 we paid for him and he ended up being a Golden Boot winner.

"Everyone in the world wants a goalscorer and we discovered one. To go into the Premier League knowing you can score goals, which can be a problem, you can be as a unit, defensive, keep the ball, and look good - but if you can't score goals, you've got problems.

"We had that. You look at the team now, I did mention set pieces and I don't want to make it sound like it's an old-fashioned Wimbledon, but I think there's so much you can get out of set pieces if you work different situations.

"If you're aggressive, when I look at modern football defenders now, they're not what they used to be with their noses stuck round the side of their head and stitches all round, they're not like that. They're all pretty and like to play football out the back.

"I think if you mix it up and you're aggressive, you hit areas like Sunderland have done in the games so far, I think you can have a lot of joy out of it. Because they don't want to stick their head in there.

"Then, as well as that, you can play and be direct. I love this direct football as well. When I say direct football, the worst thing for a defender is to chase behind you. It's alright when everything is in front of you, but when you knock balls in behind and you do it as early as possible, that's their biggest nightmare.

"They don't want to be running back to their own goal. Sunderland can mix it in both those aspects and I think they give you a bit of an advantage. After that, you can play and create other scenarios in the game.

"I like that. Football is about the basics and doing it right. If you look at Paul Scholes, his career was about doing the basic stuff but quicker and faster. Do that and you won't go far wrong. I think a lot of the players and the team are doing that.

"They're starting to grow and get confidence in the league."

Summerbee knows all about the importance of the Tyne-Wear derby, which is set to return later this year. The former Black Cats winger played a starring role in one of the most notorious games between Newcastle and Sunderland, with Ruud Gullit benching Alan Shearer ahead of the game in 1999.

"I set one up and that was as good as scoring a goal," Summerbee reflected fondly. "When we didn't go up due to Michael Gray making us wait another year to get back up there - he's a celebrity now since he missed that!

"We went up the following year and we got the most points. We used to see the Newcastle lads out if we were going for a night out and it used to wind you up.

"You wanted to play against them, you wanted to go up against them. You used to think 'they're a bit flash' and wanted to get stuck into them.

"When we got our time at St. James' Park, when Ruud Gullit was there, he put Duncan Ferguson and Alan Shearer on the bench, you thought 'wow.'

"But if you look at the first goal, that was actually my fault because I played them onside. We went a goal behind but from then after that, it just went perfectly. I put a ball in for Quinny and then we finished it off with Kevin Phillips with a wonderful goal.

"It's a fantastic derby. We're a bit away from it now being in December. They'll be looking over their shoulder a bit! It won't be like it was in the FA Cup game last year.

"I think Sunderland have surprised Newcastle. It's huge. It's a massive game of football and everyone looks forward to it. With Sunderland, the way they're going now, it's exciting. There's nothing better than that.

"I'm a Manchester lad and until I went up there, I didn't realise how much the Mackems and the Geordies hated each other. It's as big as anything. That week, two weeks, month before it, everyone will be thinking 'right here we go!'

"That's what you're in the Premier League for. This is what we wanted, what the world wanted. When Sunderland went up, people went 'brilliant - isn't it great that Sunderland went up and we get the North East derby.'"