Swansea City vs Sunderland - Alan Curtis shuns 'must-win' label as Swansea face Sunderland

Alan Curtis has refused to label Swansea's crunch relegation battle with Sunderland as a must-win game despite the magnitude of the match.

Sunderland head to the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday night knowing that victory would take them to within one point of Swansea in the Barclays Premier League.

Swansea are currently two points above the relegation zone but would drop into the bottom three if Newcastle beat Manchester United on Tuesday night.

"It's a big game, yes," said Curtis, in charge of a league fixture for the first time since his appointment as Swansea manager was confirmed until the end of the season.

"But I wouldn't call it a must-win game at the moment.

"A must-win game is if you need to win your last game of the season to stay up.

"But we need to win games sooner rather than later, and the longer you go without a win the pressure starts to build.

"We know it's a big game against a team just below us in the league, and we know the significance of picking up three points against them."

Curtis has won only one of his six games in command since stepping up from a coaching role following the dismissal of Garry Monk last month.

Performances, however, had generally improved until Sunday's miserable FA Cup exit at the hands of League Two Oxford.

But Curtis insists that setback will have no bearing on Swansea's league situation as he prepares to make mass changes once more and recall established players who missed the 3-2 defeat at the Kassam Stadium.

"As disappointed and embarrassed as we were by the performance we have to look forward, and I'm sure there will be a big bounce back," Curtis said. "I spoke to the players and it's something we can't dwell on.

"It was a bitter blow not to have a cup run because the longer you go it breeds confidence and gives players the chance to play.

"But thoughts go quickly to the Sunderland game. That has to be the case and we will concentrate on what is going to be a massive game."

Veteran midfielder Leon Britton is set to make his 500th appearance for Swansea, over 13 years after making his debut while on loan from West Ham, while Jonjo Shelvey looks set to leave the Liberty Stadium after agreeing a move to Newcastle.

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has demanded more from his players as they put their Premier League futures on the line again in another pivotal fixture at relegation rivals Swansea on Wednesday.

The Black Cats, poised to confirm the arrival of Senegal striker Dame N'Doye on loan with a view to a permanent move, gave their survival hopes a recent boost by halting a run of five straight defeats with a 3-1 home win against bottom club Aston Villa in their last league clash.

Allardyce described that encounter as a "nine-pointer" and made it clear where his priorities lay when making wholesale changes for Saturday's FA Cup exit at Arsenal.

"There were seven changes but the team was worth B£14million that started on Saturday, so it wasn't weakening the side by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

"They were players bought for a lot of money, who haven't played as much as they want and my demand is, and also for those playing on a regular basis, that they all have to get better."

N'Doye was at the Stadium of Light Academy on Monday to finalise his move from Turkish club Trabzonspor after making a positive impact for Hull last season, while recent arrival, Jan Kirchoff, could make his debut if skipper John O'Shea fails to shake off the calf strain that forced him off at Arsenal.

Allardyce vented his fury last week at the league's decision to put the game back 24 hours at Swansea's request as the Welsh club's FA Cup defeat at Oxford was played on Sunday.

But the former Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham manager's sole focus is now on getting the best out of his players.

"We've shown in patches, but only small patches, in terms of getting better and being more consistent because we would have won enough games in my time," he added.

"Four (wins) at the moment and if we'd have drawn four or three, it would have put us in a much healthier position.

"Our frailty is not having the ability of going into a game and making sure we don't lose it.

"(On Wednesday) it's like the Villa game but slightly different in that we're the Aston Villa in this game. Swansea are slightly ahead of us and when we played Villa we were slightly ahead of them.

"We've got to make sure on Wednesday night, at the very least, that Swansea have not gained any points on us."