Sunderland striker Connor Wickham believes that it is the perfect time for the Black Cats to take on Chelsea in the Premier League.

The North-East outfit are currently facing a relegation battle after dropping down to one place above the bottom three in the league table.

Despite their dismal campaign, Wickham believes that Sunderland can "take advantage" of the Blues' recent record of seven games without a win.

"The boys know what they've got to do to get out of this situation," Wickham told the Shields Gazette. "We've just got to start playing from the first whistle.

"It won't be easy against Chelsea, but they're not on the best of runs, so hopefully we can take advantage of that and do what we need to do. We've got enough ability in our dressing room to beat anybody on our day I think. We know what we've got to do to get up the table."

While the Black Cats reside in the bottom half of the standings, Chelsea sit in third place.