Scott Parker admitted the table "doesn't look pretty" for 19th-placed Burnley heading into their clash with fellow promoted side Sunderland, but he is determined to change their fortunes.
Burnley are winless in their last 14 Premier League games and currently sit 10 points from safety, and five behind West Ham in 18th.
Since being promoted from the Championship, Burnley and Sunderland have endured vastly different fortunes, with 18 points separating the sides in the standings.
And Parker acknowledged that Burnley must get their fourth victory of the campaign soon if they want to stand a chance of staying up.
"If you look at that table, it doesn't look pretty, but look at the fixtures coming up and ask yourself, 'can you pick up some points and get some positive results?'" Parker said.
"Things can change very quickly, and we've seen that over the course of this year. So that's how we go about it now, and have no focus on the table at the moment.
"They've [Sunderland] done incredibly – really well. It's a tough place and the stadium is hostile as well, so we know what we're coming up against – albeit a very different team. But we've faced them already this year and got a positive result, so we'll be ready."
Sunderland sit 11th in the table, having endured a downturn with just one win in their last seven outings.
However, they are the only side yet to lose a home Premier League match this season, winning six and drawing five of their 11 games at the Stadium of Light.
Regis Le Bris expects to see a reaction from his side, though, after they suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat to West Ham last time out.
"It is always the case," he said. "Emotions are there when you lose, but we have had time to recover and reset. I hope we will be at our best."
Sunderland will be without captain Granit Xhaka again, however, as Le Bris confirmed he is set for a longer spell on the sidelines.
"Granit is doing well," he added. "We will assess him in the next week, but it will probably be three more weeks."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Sunderland – Brian Brobbey
Brobbey has scored three goals in his last four Premier League appearances for Sunderland and has the best minutes-per-goal ratio of any Black Cats player this season (one every 175 minutes).
It is the fifth-best ratio by a Sunderland player in a season (750+ mins played) and the Black Cats' best since Jermain Defoe in 2015-16 (15 goals, one every 170 mins).
Burnley – Martin Dubravka
Dubravka has made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League this season (94).
Last time out against Tottenham, he made nine saves, only making more in a Premier League match once before (10 against Liverpool in January 2024).
MATCH PREDICTION: SUNDERLAND WIN
Sunderland have lost just one of their last 12 home league games against Burnley (W8 D3), going down 4-2 in the Championship in October 2022.
But following their 2-0 win at Turf Moor in August, Burnley are looking to complete the league double over Sunderland for the first time since 1972-73.
Sunderland have lost two of their last three Premier League matches (W1), as many as in their previous 13 (W4 D7).
The Black Cats are yet to lose consecutive Premier League matches this season, though, as one of four sides yet to do so.
The others are Arsenal, Brighton and Manchester United.
Burnley remain winless in their last 14 Premier League games (D5 L9); in their top-flight history, only from February 1889 to February 1890 have the Clarets ever endured a longer winless streak (19).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Sunderland – 53.6%
Draw – 23.8%
Burnley – 22.6%