Paul Lambert has played down Paolo Di Canio's impact at Sunderland and feels the Black Cats are still right in the middle of the relegation battle.
Since taking over at the Stadium of Light last month following the sacking of Martin O'Neill, Di Canio has overseen two wins from three Barclays Premier League games to help the Black Cats climb six points clear of the bottom three.
Lambert said of the new Black Cats boss: "You tend to get that little pick-up when somebody else comes in but the way they play, I think we know everything that goes on, and it's up to us to combat that and go and try to win."
Sunderland beat Newcastle 3-0 and also overcame Everton, and another three points at Villa Park on Monday would take Sunderland to the magic 40-point mark.
As a protege of O'Neill from the Northern Irishman's Celtic days, Villa boss Lambert understandably feels loyalty to his former manager, and his focus is on engineering a Villa win that would bring the two clubs level.
Lambert believes Di Canio's appointment can only be deemed a success if Sunderland stay up, and that is far from certain with four games to go.
The Scot said: "A lot can be made of a new manager coming in. You tend to get that little pick-up when somebody else comes in but the way they play, I think we know everything that goes on, and it's up to us to combat that and go and try to win.
"I don't want to get caught up in these sort of things. Sunderland made that choice but I know how good a manager Martin O'Neill is because I worked under him for five years.
"You don't know if it's worked, you have to wait and see, they're still bang in it. I think Paolo would say that himself. You can talk about new manager syndrome or whatever but it's the same group of players that were there before.
"I know they played Newcastle and I think anybody in a derby game (can win), it doesn't matter if you're top or bottom, it's a great leveller."
Source: PA
