Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat has identified midfield as the key area in his team as his players prepare for the latest instalment of their Premier League relegation battle at Everton.

The Dutchman has put the pressure on his midfielders to score the goals that will lift the club out of the relegation zone with just four games remaining in their troubled season.

"You can't always look towards the strikers to win the game," said Advocaat, who has switched to a 4-3-3 formation and will continue with that system at Goodison Park. "You need midfielders who can run beyond the strikers."

Advocaat had been employing two men in the centre of midfield, but said: "We realised at Stoke (where Sunderland drew 1-1) that we couldn't handle the three midfielders they had.

"You can control a game if you can control midfield. It belongs together: midfield, strikers and defence. If one or two don't understand how to gel with that, then it's difficult."

Advocaat's system also puts demands on his full-backs, as right-back Billy Jones has admitted.

"Full-backs provide more width than they ever have done and the emphasis is on them to get forward more," said Jones.

Goal-scoring has been a problem for Sunderland for much of the campaign, but Advocaat is optimistic that Danny Graham can make an impact after starting his first game last week since the Dutchman took control on March 17.

Graham has not scored in 27 appearances for Sunderland, the last of which came in a 2-1 home win over Southampton, but Advocaat and his team-mates have declared this week that he is among their best finishers in training.

Now he has to transfer that quality onto the Premier League stage against Everton, who looked like candidates to join Sunderland in the relegation fight following a disastrous run of results either side of Christmas.

The Merseysiders made smooth progress into the last 16 of the Europa League, but a return of just two wins from 16 league games left Roberto Martinez's men looking over their shoulders towards the bottom three.

However, thanks to five wins in their last seven games -- including four successive victories at Goodison -- Martinez is now eyeing a top-10 finish.

His team have climbed to 11th place, three points behind West Ham United and Stoke, who occupy ninth and 10th place respectively.

"It looked like it would be out of our reach," Martinez said. "Seven games ago we had 28 points and it was a completely different picture to where we are now.

"Finishing in the top 10 would be a very important way of finishing the season, as well as something special for the season to come."

Saturday's game will be the last at Goodison for on-loan Tottenham Hotspur winger Aaron Lennon, who is ineligible for the match against his parent club on the final day of the season.

Everton would like to sign the England international, 28, if they can agree a fee, but for now Martinez is looking for Lennon to sign off an a high.

"The reality is Aaron has been a revelation since he came to the club," the Spaniard said.

"The next two games are important for him to finish strong. At the end of that, we'll sit down and see where Aaron wants to be."