MK Dons boss Liam Manning wants his side to 'show how far they've come' since their defeat against Sunderland earlier this season.
The Black Cats ran out 2-1 winners in the reverse fixture at Stadium:MK but have been in fine form since the turn of the year, keeping five clean sheets and conceding just fine goals in that time.
In contrast, Sunderland have all but waved goodbye to their hopes of automatic promotion and must now focus on consolidating their play-off berth.
MK Dons' key strength has been major Sunderland weakness as promotion rivals prepare for crunch game
They'll host an MK Dons side that have propelled themselves up the table and have been a surprise package this season.
“It feels like a long time ago, right?” Manning said when asked about the 2-1 defeat earlier this season. “We came in on the Thursday night, we didn’t do anything on the Friday so the first thing we actually did was take the game - the group have been quite a journey since then.”
“That’s going to be the big thing for me on Saturday,” he said. “Let's see how far we've come, even more so going away up there with the challenge again of stepping up against a big club, which is something that they’ve done numerous times this season.
“I can't wait but more so in terms of seeing the guys play again - that's the bit that excites me more than anything.
“The number of fans, the size of the club we’re going up against and our league positions all make it great but how the guys are doing, how they are performing, hard they are working and the quality they are showing - that's what excites me.
“We will do our work and we will get prepared properly by doing the opposition analysis as best we can but then, when the game starts, it’s around our group sticking together and understanding how to get success in in the game.
“They have been terrific at that throughout the but the challenge is to do it again and take that into the game at the weekend.”
Like Sunderland, MK Dons have had a full week on the training ground with no midweek fixtures, something Manning believes will stand his side in good stead.
He commented: “We’ve had a decent week. It’s been good to get that little bit of rest it but also have some solid training sessions.
“It’s quite welcomed in terms of getting the squad into a good place and revisiting some work on the pitch that we don’t get the opportunity to do too regularly on the pitch.”
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