The defender looks set to miss the Black Cats' visit of Bolton at the weekend after picking up a hamstring injury against Fulham on Saturday, although early scans appear to have ruled out a serious problem. Ferdinand has called on Steve Bruce's seventh-placed side to keep up their fearless approach to the Premier League in his absence. "This is a good opportunity for Sunderland," Ferdinand told Journal Live. "We've got to keep playing our football, keep trying to win as many games as we can and keep taking each game as it comes. "We have got a fantastic opportunity to stake a claim to stay in the top 10 this year and if we go into games like we have been doing and keep attacking like we have been, we've got a great chance of doing that." Ferdinand is enjoying the competitive nature of the top flight this season, and feels it bodes well for both the league and supporters. "It's more like the Championship. Everyone beats everyone in the Championship, you might get one team running away with who is going to win it, but everything else is up for grabs," he said. "Now this year it's the same with the Premier League, although nobody is running away with it this year. "Normally you have two or three that are 10 points ahead by now and that ain't the case. Everyone thought Chelsea was going to run away with it and now they're not even top of the league. He added: "It makes it a better league, of course it does, on the eye and for people watching. Not only that, you've got the foreign players who want to come and play in this league. "For the neutral and the people who want to watch the sport and the Premier League it's very good. "And it's not only at the top, it's at the bottom as well because we're doing very well at the moment but if you look at the points we're not far from both ends of the table."
