Lamine Kone has called for Sunderland to use the momentum gained from recent matches to steer the club to Premier League survival this season.

The Black Cats were in perilous danger of being cut adrift at the bottom of the table when they were faced with matches against Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United in the space of 11 days.

However, Sam Allardyce’s men have managed to take four points from a possible nine and that return could have been even better if they had been able to take any of their chances in the 1-0 defeat to the Citizens.

A 2-2 draw against Liverpool followed that loss before Saturday’s fantastic 2-1 victory over the Red Devils at the Stadium of Light.

Kone was one of the star performers in that win, with the Ivory Coast international diverting a header goal-wards before the ball was turned into the back of the net by goalkeeper David de Gea.

The 27-year-old was one of a number of new signings that arrived in January and the defender has had an instant impact since leaving Lorient.

Sunderland are still 19th in the table but, with just one point the gap to 17th-placed Norwich City, Kone is hoping the team can keep the good run of form going when they return to action against the Hammers on February 27.

“We can look towards the next match at West Ham United and hope we can get another victory,” he said. “The situation in the relegation battle is still difficult and we still need to win more games.”

West Ham are 1.80 favourites to pick up the win at home, a draw is priced at 3.50 while the visitors are on offer at 4.33 to record back-to-back victories.