CONNOR WICKHAM is hoping Dick Advocaat sticks with his policy of fielding three attacking players up front despite Sunderland’s capitulation at the hands of Crystal Palace.

Wickham has played alongside Jermain Defoe and Steven Fletcher in all three of the Black Cats’ matches under Advocaat, and prior to Saturday, the positive team selection appeared to be working as Sunderland produced reasonably effective displays against West Ham and Newcastle.

The wheels came off against Palace though, with the Eagles scoring four goals in 14 second-half minutes as Advocaat’s side struggled to create a single chance of note in the opening 89 minutes of the game.

Wickham grabbed a 90th-minute consolation, but his strike did not prevent Advocaat bemoaning his side’s lack of a cutting edge in his post-match discussions.

The Dutchman must now decide whether to change tack when Sunderland return to action against Stoke City a week on Saturday, but Wickham is hoping he maintains his positive approach despite the pressure at the foot of the table continuing to intensify.

“I hope three up front is the formula now,” said the striker, who claimed his fifth goal of the season at the weekend. “I want to play as much football as I can, and if I can stay in the team then that’ll be great.

“The games that are left are very important, and we need everyone to play a part. For me, I want to play football, and I’ve got two great players alongside me in Fletch and Jermain.”

Saturday’s game saw Wickham attempting to cut in from the left-hand side of an attacking trio, whereas the game at West Ham had seen the 22-year-old playing in a more central ‘number ten’ role behind a front two.

He has spent the majority of his career playing as an orthodox centre-forward, but is confident he can adapt to whatever is asked of him in the final six matches of the season.

“It depends how the opposition set up, but for me, I’ll just play anywhere the manager wants me to play - as a central striker or as a left or right-sided striker,” he said. “That’s easy for me, I can do a job and you just make the most of it.”

Saturday’s result leaves Sunderland three points clear of the relegation zone, but with no game scheduled for next weekend because of Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final, they could be in the bottom three by the time they take on Stoke.

That would pile huge pressure on the next four matches, although Wickham insists it would be wrong to regard the final two games of the season, at Arsenal and Chelsea, as a write off.

“If you look at last season, it says it all,” he said. “We went to Manchester United and beat them, we beat Chelsea away and we drew with (Manchester) City. So I wouldn’t write the last two games off at all. But we have got important games coming up that we need to take points from.”

* Sunderland’s development team drew 0-0 at Norwich City yesterday despite having to play the majority of the second half with ten men following the 52nd-minute dismissal of Tom McNamee.