Sunderland midfielder Sebastian Larsson admits they expect relegation rivals Wigan Athletic to finish strongly.

Sunderland face Stoke City tonight.

Larsson said: "When I was in that situation, the final was a lot earlier on in the season.

"When you have only got a certain amount of games to go, you can give your all in every single game. I suppose it can work both ways, but it's nothing we put a lot of energy into.

"You know what Wigan are capable of towards the end of the season, so we are just trying to focus on where we have to get to. We have put ourselves recently in a good position to get there. It still looks a lot brighter now than it did three weeks ago.

"You have definitely got to use that performance against Villa to your advantage and step up to the mark, but also remember to keep the positives, that we have put ourselves in a situation where it's fully under our control."