Lorik Cana believes there is enough quality in the Sunderland squad to steer clear of trouble this term.
Midfield enforcer feels Sunderland are too good to go down
Lorik Cana believes there is enough quality in the Sunderland squad to steer clear of trouble this term.
The Black Cats have seen a bright start to the 2009/10 campaign extinguished by a 12-match winless run, which stretches back three months.
Aspirations of pushing for European qualification appear to have been dashed, with the club now just three points clear of the drop zone.
The alarming slump needs to be broken, and fast, if a relegation dogfight is to be avoided, but club captain Cana insists there is no reason to panic just yet.
"When you have gone months without a victory, you know that you are in a relegation battle," the combative midfielder told the
Sunderland Echo.
"The table is tight and the other clubs around us have picked up points. But we are not thinking too much about a relegation battle - we are concentrating on getting a win and having a strong finish to the season.
"I think the team we have has enough quality to be higher up the table but over the last two-and-a-half months we have had so many problems with injuries or players coming back from injury and not being at their best level.
"In the Premier League you cannot get away with that.
"What we have to do is to keep the spirit high and try to pick up as many points as we can."
Destiny
Cana has also revealed that he was invited for a trial at Arsenal as a teenager, but saw red tape scupper his big opportunity in England.
The Albania skipper was a refugee in Switzerland at the time, with his family having been forced to flee war-torn Kosovo.
He said: "I was invited over by Arsenal when I was 16 for a trial, but I couldn't come because I had visa problems.
"I couldn't get the right papers. When you are refugee in a country, you cannot leave that country. I went to the embassy to ask for a visa, but it was impossible.
"But everyone's destiny is different - mine was to go and play in France (with Paris St Germain), and I was happy to do that."
