SUNDERLAND have shown a greater resilience when the pressure has been well and truly on since the turn of the year, and John O’Shea thinks it bodes well for a third battle with relegation rivals in 2016.

Despite the defeats to Arsenal in the FA Cup and then at Tottenham a week ago, the Black Cats have started the year encouragingly by winning crucial fixtures with Aston Villa and Swansea.

The manner of those victories over teams in a similarly frustrating place towards the foot of the Premier League indicated that the desire to stay up is in the Sunderland squad and that the character is stronger than many felt before Christmas.

But can they do it again when Bournemouth, sitting six points above Sam Allardyce’s men, arrived at the Stadium of Light with their own intentions to stay in the Premier League, ahead of dates with Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United?

“Two of those games – against City and against United – are at home, and we can take something against Liverpool away,” said O’Shea. “We have been very much in the games against Liverpool recently. It's the Premier League and we will be looking forward to each challenge.

“But the game against Bournemouth is a big one because we are close to one another in the table, but that's what we faced against Swansea and Aston Villa and we have to go into it with the same mentality.”

Bournemouth head to Wearside with just two defeats from their last 11 matches, including wins over Chelsea, Manchester United, West Brom and Norwich City.

The Cherries’ form under their brilliant young manager Eddie Howe has given them a strong chance of survival, but they are also one of the teams Sunderland need to stay with to boost their own chances of staying up.

“You're hoping all the time that back-to-back wins are going to get you out of the bottom three,” said O’Shea. “Other teams have picked up results, though, so we have to do that again.

“Bournemouth have spent quite a bit of cash in the January window to get some new players in, because I think they had a few injuries go against them, so they have acted quickly to bring people in and they will be a threat to us, without a doubt. We have done our homework over the last couple of days to find ways to hurt them.”

Even though there is clearly a greater emphasis placed on the games with the teams in and around the bottom three by supporters, Allardyce is stressing that points have to be targeted in every game.

O’Shea said: “We know we've got back-to-back victories before and your confidence grows. We lost against Tottenham but we go again.

“We've got a home game next against Bournemouth, who've had a couple of good results but they've also had a couple of bad results recently. We have to make sure we focus on ourselves, that's the big thing. We're playing well, creating chances and the lads up top are confident.

“Jeremain Lens has come in and shown that bit of extra form so hopefully he can maintain that, and Jermain [Defoe] is also taking chances. Patrick [van Aanholt] was very lucky he scored that goal against Tottenham because otherwise I think Jermain would have taken his head off!”

After this weekend’s round of Premier League games, Allardyce will spend the next week working purely on strengthening his squad before facing Manchester City on February 2; the day after the transfer window closes.

O’Shea, who spent three months on loan earlier in his career at Bournemouth, thinks the players already in the squad could be just as important in the relegation fight that lies ahead.

“You’d like to think our experiences will help, although we know that in the Premier League the competition increases year on year, squads improve, teams improve so things are different to previous relegation battles we have had,” said O’Shea.

“Everyone knows how important it is to stay in the Premier League, and you can see that now with Bournemouth spending a bit of cash to try and do that. Other teams will be trying to do that as well, and you know there will always be increased competition.”