"We're fighting for the Premier League, but that's our Champions League. It's a strange feeling, but it feels like the Champions League final every game," Mannone told the BBC.
"I think you can see now that all of our heads are in the right direction. What we've learnt from other teams like Leicester is that you don't care who you play against - you just go and try to win the games."
Mannone made a handful of appearances in the Champions League with Arsenal.
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With just four games left, Sunderland, who are 17th in the table, will look to take a step closer to top-flight safety when they travel to take on 10th-placed Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
