Source: Telegraph
Sunderland's next two games critical to Premier League survival says Ricky Sbragia
Sbragia admitted the games had assumed critical importance after the Wearside club were left teetering on the brink of relegation to the Championship after their winless streak stretched to seven matches.
Last weekend's 2-1 defeat by Manchester United meant that Sunderland have not picked up three points since Stoke were beaten 2-0 on Wearside on February 7.
Fourth-bottom Sunderland face relegation rivals Hull City at the Stadium of Light this Saturday before heading to West Brom the following weekend and Sbragia has acknowledged his side must return to winning ways sooner rather than later to preserve their top-flight status.
'These games against Hull and West Brom are crucial because they are the teams around us down at the bottom,' Sbragia said. 'We have to take three points from them and it's so important.
'They are the do or die games. I hope the players aren't thinking that the Hull game will be a formality and it will be an automatic three points, because it will be a very difficult game against a side who are fighting to stay up just as we are.'
After the visit to the Hawthorns, Sunderland host Everton before travelling to Bolton and Portsmouth and then playing Chelsea on the last day of the season.
'We can't take our eye off any game,' Sbragia added. 'We've got to focus on getting points from all our remaining games.
'We need to get points it's as simple as that – that's far more important than performances at this stage of the season.
'There are only six games left and we know we have to climb the table.'
Sunderland winger Carlos Edwards insisted the club had to treat their six remaining fixtures as cup finals following an encouraging display against the Premier League leaders.
'We have the determination to get out of this,' said Edwards said. 'There were a lot of positives from the United game and hopefully we will take them into the next six games.
'We realise we're in a dogfight and we're up for it. We've got to make sure we show the same desire against Hull next week.
'People say the Hull game is our cup final but we have six cup finals, they are all as big as each other. We will roll our sleeves up and battle.'
