"Six points might look like a lot but if we win and Birmingham lose, it goes down to just three points," he has said.
"We need belief and confidence. We need to win on Saturday and then we can look at Birmingham's result.
"When our games are over I'm always looking for the other results. Birmingham, Wigan or Bolton.
"We need to get three points behind Birmingham. Their next game against Wigan won't be easy and then they have Everton so we need to believe in ourselves.
"Sunderland are a very good team. I played against them last season when I was at West Brom.
"They are very strong - I watched them win their last game against West Ham and they're a very good side.
"But with six games left we need to win at home and then beat Reading.
"We need to be strong. I remember last year West Ham and two years ago West Brom stayed up. Now we need to believe in ourselves."