Aiden McGeady reckons his Sunderland side will not deserve to stay up if they cannot beat Burton Albion in tomorrow's crunch clash (3pm).

The Brewers and McGeady's Black Cats are both facing relegation as they meet at the Stadium of Light.

Defeat for either side would see them confirmed as a League One team for next season if Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City both win - and a draw between the sides of Chris Coleman and Nigel Clough could result in them both dropping.

Aiden McGeady of Sunderland
Aiden McGeady of Sunderland

While they have lost only one of their last five outings, Sunderland find themselves at the foot of the second-tier table with only three games to go following Burton's victory over Derby County last weekend.

And just as with Albion, McGeady knows there is now no margin of error for him and his teammates.

"They had a really good result at the weekend but ultimately, if we don't beat them, then we don't deserve to stay up," he told the Sunderland Echo.

"That's the way I look at it.

"We know we have to win our remaining games to have a chance of staying up.

"'Do or die' has probably been said for every game we have had for the last three months.

Liam Boyce shows exactly what it means as Burton Albion beat Derby County

"The only positive from the last five or six games is that we've actually been playing well.

"You look at the games where we've drawn, even the Sheffield Wednesday game where we lost, and we've played well in all these games, and probably deserved to win them - Leeds United, Norwich City, Reading.

"Over the season, if we don't concede those goals when we're in the lead, I'd say we'd probably be right up there if we maintained our leads when we were winning games.

"But that's in the past, there's not much we can do to change it. The positive thing is we've been playing well."