SAM ALLARDYCE has Sunderland’s players prepared for further formation changes, despite watching his five-man defence lay the foundations for two important victories in a row.

The Black Cats head to Arsenal this Saturday, where the task of claiming a third victory in succession will be tougher than claiming maximum points against Crystal Palace and Stoke City.

Those wins, which have lifted Sunderland out of the relegation zone for the first time this season, have been achieved on the back of Allardyce’s decision to play with five at the back.

There is every chance that he will stick with the same system at the Emirates this Saturday, although the players have been told to brace themselves for adjustments depending on the opposition.

Arsenal will be desperate to return to winning ways after failing to beat Norwich City; a result which has left Arsene Wenger’s side fourth and two points behind leaders Manchester City.

Sunderland defender Sebastian Coates said: “The formation will depend on who we are playing. At Crystal Palace they have amazing wingers, so we went five at the back and we felt facing Stoke was worth going to be the same.

“Stoke like to counter-attack and the system got us over the line again. It’s fantastic that we won. But I don’t think we will just stick to playing five at the back for every game, I think the manager will change things if he feels it is best to.”

Allardyce, a centre-back in his playing days, has made sorting Sunderland’s defensive problems out as his priority since taking over – and has made huge strides already.

With the exception of the 6-2 defeat at Everton on November 1, Sunderland have won three games under his watch by keeping clean sheets in all of those and the two other reversals have been narrow 1-0 affairs.

Coates, whose form has been hugely inconsistent since his arrival from Liverpool initially on a season-long loan 16 months ago, is enjoying working under the 61-year-old; his third boss at the Stadium of Light following Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat.

“He is working well for us,” said the 25-year-old. “Everyone knows that as a former defender he is perfect for us – and he is helping me. We are a more compact side under him, we are playing more like a unit. It is important though that we keep improving. We still have plenty of work to do.”

Sunderland’s remaining five matches of 2015 will see them travel to Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City as well as face Watford and Liverpool at home, so it will take an impressive run of results to stay above the relegation zone.

But the victories over Palace and Stoke have given everyone at Sunderland a huge lift, with the players finding greater belief that Allardyce’s methods can pay off by keeping them in the Premier League.

Coates said: “We have taken six massive points this week but we need to keep going, playing in the same way and working hard in the week. We now look like a team, that’s how we have trained during the weeks, to try to get to that level.

“As a defence, as a defender, and for the keeper, for us to keep a clean sheet is crucial because it builds confidence. You could see what the Crystal Palace game did for us against Stoke, now hopefully the Stoke game will help us even more going in to the rest of the games.”

Sunderland look set to have to make a couple of changes at Arsenal following the injuries picked up by Jermain Defoe and Seb Larsson. Neither are expected to be too serious, although it would be a risk to throw them in so soon after picking up respective hamstring and medial knee ligament problems.