Liam Bridcutt has warned his Sunderland teammates that failure to beat fellow strugglers Burnley on Saturday could represent the first stop on the road to relegation.
Gus Poyet's side, who sit 16th in the Premier League table, head into the six-pointer level on points with the 17th-placed Clarets.
Defeat could potentially see the Black Cats dragged into the danger zone, and Bridcutt fears that Sunderland, winless in five league games, risk being left behind.
"They will make us work for the three points. We've been preparing this week for it and hopefully we will get the result," he told reporters.
"We need to start winning games. The teams around us now, everyone is starting to edge away and we need to start doing that ourselves.
"We know with a big performance against Burnley that we can start to change things around and put a few more points on the table."
Poyet's troops, who have not won a game since beating Newcastle United in December, have managed just three top-flight victories all season.
Shane Callaghan
