The Black Cats passed up an opportunity to reduce the gap to Liverpool, the current occupants of eighth place, to just a single point on Saturday when they were held 0-0 at the Stadium of Light by bottom club Wolves.

Afterwards Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill insisted his team will not be allowed to coast towards the end of the season, and Belgium international Mignolet echoed this sentiment.

The goalkeeper said: "There are still things to play for and everybody wants to get up in the table.

Eighth

"We would rather end up eighth in the table than being 12th or 13th, so there's still a lot to play for.

"That's the main thing and everybody is thinking the same way in the dressing room."

The Black Cats drew a blank for their third successive game and Mignolet is now looking forward to the next game against O'Neill's old club Aston Villa.

He said: "If you want to win games, you have to score a goal and obviously in the last couple of weeks, it has been tough for us to try to get a goal.

"It's always dangerous if it stays 0-0, things can go either way. Luckily, Wolves didn't score because they could easily have nicked the game as well, which would have been even more disappointing.

"But on the other hand, we have still got things to play for and hopefully, everybody looks forward to next week."