Emanuele Giaccherini has said that Sunderland have been "stronger mentally" since their draw with Manchester City earlier this month.

Two goals from Connor Wickham earned the Black Cats a 2-2 draw with Manuel Pellegrini's men at the Etihad Stadium to end a run of five straight defeats and boost their hopes of avoiding relegation.

The winger told the Sunderland Echo: "That draw made us stronger mentally and from there. We need to continue like this in the next game at Manchester United. We will go there to win.

"We have good memories of going there from the League Cup, but we can't think about that game. This is a different game. Manchester United have changed managers and they will be very difficult.

"It was very, very important to win against Cardiff because they are directly around us. Now we've got seven points from the last three games which is fantastic. We think we can stay up going into these final three games."

Sunderland currently sit 17th in the table, level on points with Norwich City below them, ahead of their trip to Old Trafford this weekend.