Catt: It could go either way for us

Published Dec. 17, 2009 3:55 a.m. ET

foxsports

Since Cattermole suffered a knee injury in Sunderland's 1-0 victory over Liverpool in mid-October, the Black Cats have won just once in eight Premier League games. The club have also been knocked out of the Carling Cup and now sit 10th in the table, just five points above the relegation zone. Cattermole returned from injury as a substitute in Tuesday's 2-0 home defeat by Aston Villa and he is eager to play his part in reviving the club's campaign. "We have to look at our season now, pick things up and try to establish ourselves in the top half of the league," Cattermole told the Sunderland Echo. "We're in a tricky situation where it could go either way for us. "I think quite a lot has been made of me missing games and that we have not won as many games, but we have had some tough games. I will do my best now I'm back to help the team get back on track. "Hopefully we can keep things tight at Man City on Saturday and come away with something. We need to get back to winning ways and become more solid and harder to beat." The summer signing from Wigan Athletic was not originally due to play against Villa, having been pencilled in for an outing in the reserves. However, Cattermole believes his quest to regain full match fitness will benefit more from playing first-team games. He added: "I said to the gaffer I would rather play a Premier League game than play against Hartlepool on possibly a bit of a dodgy pitch. "No disrespect to Hartlepool, but you never know - they might want to start kicking lads who have got a bit of a name, so I thought I would give that one a miss and try to get a run-out for the first team."