Football
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Sam Allardyce: Sunderland mustn't 'lose the plot' like Tottenham did

Sam Allardyce has warned Sunderland not to do a Tottenham and "lose the plot" when they attempt to boost their Premier League survival hopes against Chelsea on Saturday.

Sunderland's fate currently remains in their own hands with three matches of the season left as they are one point adrift of safety but with a game-in-hand over 17th-placed Newcastle.

Allardyce, however, says they will struggle in their fight for survival if they allow the pressure of their situation to get to them.

As an example, he pointed to the way Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs folded mentally against Chelsea on Monday evening to surrender a 2-0 lead and ultimately their remote chance of denying Leicester the title as a 2-2 draw ended their hopes.

"You saw it in Tottenham, I think, on Monday night when they lost the plot," he said. "We can't afford to do that. We have to stay focused from start to finish.

"Tottenham lost a goal then lost the plot mentally, so then all of a sudden, all the talent they have in that side just went by the way and they ended up not only losing the game, but doing the strangest thing I've ever seen a Tottenham side do. And that's get nine players booked and make some quite ferocious tackles at the same time.

"That shows you. What happened to Tottenham mentally, we cannot afford for that to happen to our team. Perhaps it's because they are, as Mauricio says, such a young team that they in the end, couldn't quite cope with that pressure and lost the plot.

"That's the last reaction we want from our team in any of the last three games. We want to be aggressive, yes. We want controlled aggression, passion, desire, commitment, yes. But we don't want to go over the top and lose control of ourselves.''

Newcastle's win over Crystal Palace last weekend sent Sunderland back into the relegation zone.

However, Jermain Defoe's last-minute equaliser at Stoke -- his 17th goal of the season and 11th away from home -- means Sunderland trail Newcastle by a single point, rather than two, and Allardyce is aware of the predicament they would have been in without him.

"If he wears a different pair of boots away from home, he's going to have to wear his away boots on Saturday," he said.

"It's been fantastic for Jermain. He's played on a regular basis -- he tells me in the last couple of years, he hasn't played as much, and he's happy to be playing every week and playing every week makes him a little bit sharper in front of goal.

"There's no doubt without him, we would have been struggling an awful lot more than we are now points-wise.''

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