Aiden McGeady believes that Sunderland deserve to be relegated if they can't beat fellow strugglers Burton Albion.

The Black Cats host the Brewers in a bottom of the table clash with the losing team likely to be confirmed as relegated and a draw suiting neither side.

Burton are five points from safety while Sunderland are six away, so a win is key for both sides. However, Nigel Clough's side were always likely to be struggling to stay up at this stage due to their smaller resources in comparison to other Championship sides while this is a nightmare for Sunderland fans because they couldn't have anticipated their season to potentially go any worse than this.

McGeady is using this contrast to fire up the team as quoted by The Sunderland Echo: "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 - 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.

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

The Verdict

These kind of messages can backfire tremendously if the team is unable to achieve the desired result. However, McGeady is right to say this because the Black Cats have nothing left to lose at this point.

Both sides need a win, but it has added importance for Sunderland because consecutive relegations will hit them hard financially and they need to arrest the slump they are in quickly.

Sunderland fans will be hoping that McGeady has a moment of magic in him because this is likely to be a tense affair with little quality on display.