ADNAN JANUZAJ is ready to round on any critics claiming he doesn’t care about Sunderland’s perilous position at the foot of the Premier League table by fighting to deliver another Great Escape.

The Black Cats are six points adrift at the bottom of the top-flight ahead of a game this weekend which could quite easily shape the remaining two months of the campaign.

Defeat at home to Burnley could leave Sunderland with an even greater task of climbing out of the bottom three with ten matches remaining, while it could also have a lasting impact on morale and confidence.

Securing only the second Premier League win of 2017 on the other hand could give David Moyes’ squad the lift required to kickstart a revival, with trips to Watford and Leicester City to follow after the international break.

Relegation for Sunderland would be an expensive problem, just weeks after a statement from the Wearside club confirmed there is to be a round of redundancies regardless of what division they are playing in next season.

It would be easy for supporters and cynics to suggest some of Sunderland’s players, particularly those on short term deals, wouldn’t be bothered at the end of another difficult season.

But Januzaj, who is only on a season-long loan so is due back at Manchester United in the summer, has strongly refuted such suggestions and is desperate to prove it.

"I am not a selfish player … people always think ‘he is just on loan, he doesn't care really’. It is not like that,” said Januzaj, speaking at the Academy of Light yesterday. “Even when I lose games, I don't like losing, I don’t even want to go out eating or anything. It is just my mentality.

"If I leave here in the summer, I want Sunderland to be in the Premier League and say to people ‘I was at Sunderland and we stayed up’."

Sunderland only have Januzaj, Jason Denayer (Manchester City) and Javier Manquillo (Atletico Madrid) on loan. All three are due to return to their respective clubs once the final ball has been kicked this season.

There are a number of others who will become free agents. Jan Kirchhoff, Seb Larsson, Steven Peienaar, Victor Anichebe, John O’Shea and Joleon Lescott’s deals will all be up for renewal.

Such scenarios make it easy for the players to leave if relegation falls on Sunderland; just as it would be simpler for Moyes to move them on to start afresh outside of the Premier League.

Januzaj, speaking generally rather than about his current team-mates, said: “There might be some players who don’t care when they’re on loan. I am not like this. I have never been selfish.

“I always want my teams to win. I don’t like to lose. People might think I don’t care because I am only on loan, but when you look at it I have also done the bad side of the job here, the horrible side, defending, that’s because I care. I like to attack more than defend normally.”

Januzaj has failed to score in any of his 19 appearances, 15 starts, for Sunderland in the Premier League; his only strike was the winner against Shrewsbury in the EFL Cup in August.

His performances in an attacking sense have frustrated supporters and Moyes, prompting the manager to suggest the Belgian often needs a kick up the backside to get him going.

Januzaj said: “Obviously this manager thinks that because he knows what I can do. I don’t mind when a manager tries to push me. He is being hard on me and I have to take it and try to play some big games.

“Criticism makes you stronger. You can criticise me how you want, the first thing that I think about is my own game when I go out onto the pitch.

“I would say mentally I have improved here, that has been a strength of mine. It has been a hard time for me because it has not been an easy position to be in. I have become a much stronger player than I have been.

“Defensively I have also had to improve because I have had to defend more than I did at Manchester United. That has helped my fitness as well. I feel much fitter now playing this way.”