Former Sunderland midfielder Don Hutchinson believes David Moyes must take more responsibility for their woes so far this season.

The Black Cats, who are 1.67 to go down, have flirted with the drop for a number of years and, having claimed just a single point from their opening six games, currently sit bottom of the Premier League table.

Saturday’s loss to Crystal Palace was arguably their lowest point of the season, after they squandered a two goal lead in a 3-2 defeat.

Moyes took over the club in the aftermath of Sam Allardyce’s departure to England but, despite doing plenty of business in the transfer market, does not appear to have brought in the necessary quality to compete.

Defensively they have conceded a number of poor goals and seem to be lacking genuine leadership. Ahead of this weekend’s visit of West Brom, Hutchinson admits Moyes has plenty of work to do and has also called on the Scot to take more responsibility for their plight.

“Moyes will have four or five days to work with his players at the Academy of Light this week ahead of Saturday’s visit of West Bromwich Albion,” he wrote in the Chronicle Live.

“You can do a lot of work in that time, and Moyes is a manager who will put that graft in, but I can’t believe some of the stuff he is coming out with. “He seems to think he’s doing Sunderland a favour by managing them.

“I understand he’s been handed a really hard brief coming into the club in pre-season with not much money to spend, but at some point he’s got to take responsibility for their defensive play.”

Despite their situation, Sunderland are the 2.40 favourites to beat the Baggies, while the draw is 3.20 and West Brom 3.10.