Sam Allardyce has said that he expects to find two new recruits to boost his Sunderland side's chances of Premier League survival in the second half of the campaign.

The Black Cats manager admitted that he would "ideally... like to bring none in" but conceded that he would have to be active in the market with the club stuck in the relegation zone and two points from safety.

"I want the players here to be achieving more than they have been because that would make my job a lot easier in January," Allardyce told reporters on Friday. "So if we bring in two players I think we will have done well. I got out on the road this week and went to try and sign some players.

"I felt it was more important to see what might be available in January and have spent the best part of the week actually finding out where those deals are that can actually happen before we move.

"You can be told a player is available and then when you move for them, you get, 'Who told you he was available for that?' We keep getting phone calls from all sorts of agents, as you do at this time of year, so I've been trying to nail down whether they are concrete or not."

Sunderland visit managerless Chelsea for their next Premier League game on Saturday afternoon.