Sale Sharks lock James Gaskell believes that the team can use their LV= Cup run as a platform to secure Premiership survival this season.

The Sharks will face Harlequins in the final of the competition on Sunday, but they are just two points ahead of bottom side London Welsh in the league table.

"There were a lot of good things and a lot of bad things from us, but on the whole it was a massive win against Saracens and it is a chance to really kick-on towards the end of the season," Gaskell told reporters at a press conference.

"We need to get as much confidence as possible going into these last five Premiership games. People will look at the Saracens team and say they didn't have their full strength side out but that team would beat a lot of Premiership teams on their day and we had to fight for a lot of things.

"The boys had to stand up and it happened for us. We have always said that we wanted to be off the bottom of the table by this stage in the season. Whatever has happened with London Welsh has happened and we need to keep fighting because we know we need to win three of our last five to guarantee us staying up."

Gaskell was named captain of Sale for the 2010-2011 season.