SEBASTIAN LARSSON feels that Sunderland have their best chance of winning games when Lee Cattermole is in the side.

Sunderland have been at their best when Cattermole has lined up alongside the Swede in midfield, with the pair reunited when Cattermole returned from injury against West Bromwich Albion last weekend.

Larsson and Cattermole are expected to start at Old Trafford against Manchester United today, and the former Birmingham City winger is relieved that his midfield partner is back in harness, with his leadership skills a much-needed asset.

“He’s been a big player since I came to the club,” said Larsson. “He’s that type of player, that type of character that there’s not that many around. He’s got an ability to drive the team on, whether it’s with the ball or without the ball.

“So for me, he’s a very big player for us. He showed that on Saturday, after quite a while out hopefully he’ll stay fit and compete for a place like everyone else and drive us on for the rest of the season.

“He’s got those qualities. He drives the team on. That’s off the pitch and on the pitch. Does he give us a lift? Especially now that he’s been out of the team for a while. You want your best players back, and for me he’s one of them.

“He definitely gave us a lift on Saturday and whoever plays next to him or in his place then they have to step up and push the team on. Everyone’s got different qualities, when it comes to leadership he’s got that naturally so he’s somebody that you’d follow.”

Cattermole was Sunderland’s brightest player in the second half of last season, and while he has been in good form during the latest campaign he has been ably supported by Larsson, who has settled fully into his central role after spending his whole career before that on the wing.

“I feel comfortable in the role I’m in and I feel I’ve learned how to get the best out of my own ability when I play inside in that midfield,” said Larsson. “It’s about the team though, if we can have a good end to the season I can look back and think I’ve had a good season. If the team doesn’t do well it doesn’t make me too happy anyway.”

Larsson scored the only goal of an unlikely 1-0 victory over United en-route to their successful fight against relegation last year, and the Swede cannot see any reason why Sunderland are not able to repeat the trick this season.

“We managed to beat them once and kind of beat them the other time, so we’ll use those memories,” said Larsson, who was not involved in Sunderland’s win on penalties in the Capital One Cup semi-final at Old Trafford last year.

“We know we’ve done it before, and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again. Unless you perform to your best you’re going to have a tough afternoon. It’s more excitement when you go there now.

“You’re well aware that you have to do well but it’s a place that if you do well it’s enjoyable to play football.

“It will never be easy there. Obviously, teams have taken advantage of that little bit of uncertainty that has been there in the last 18 months which was inevitable when someone like Sir Alex Feguson leaves the club.

“But at the same time you’ve seen them win games very comfortably there. You know you have to be on top of your game there. We managed to get a win there last year which was big for us, and we’ll use those memories when we go there.”

A decent run of wins can see Sunderland pull clear of the relegation zone - they sit three points from 17th-place Burnley - and Larsson stressed the importance of putting some distance between themselves and the bottom three.

“It’s been our downfall in recent times that we haven’t pushed on when we’ve had the chance to,” said the 29-year-old

“You look at the league over the last few years, it’s different now. I don’t think you can look at the league and say ‘there’s four or five teams involved in the relegation zone’ - you’ve got half of the league.

“They can all move places in the last part of the season. We’ve got to make sure we go in the right way. There’s no point saying it in here, you’ve got to do it out there. That’s what we’re going to try and do.

“Being solid for the best part of the season has been a positive for us. You want to keep going, you don’t want to lose that. At the same time, we’ve had to search for goals, and to do that you have to tinker with things.

“As a whole, the way the manager wants us to play football, regardless of formation, is pretty similar, and you have to adapt to certain games. We know we need to be solid and we know we need to score goals, we know what we have to do.”