Sebastian Larsson has told the Daily Telegraph clubs battling relegation "will be worried" by Sunderland's track record of beating the drop.
Sunderland are currently bottom of the Premier League but are just two points behind 15th-placed Middlesbrough after securing a draw against Tottenham and a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in their last two games.
Larsson has played a part in many relegation battles since joining from Birmingham in 2011, with the club finishing three points clear of relegation in 2012-13, five points clear in 2013-14, three points clear in 2014-15 and two points clear last season.
"I think there are six or seven teams involved in the relegation battle now," the Sweden international said. "I suspect, when those teams look at the table and see Sunderland's name, they will be worried.
"They know what we have done before, they know we have got out of worse positions and they know what we are capable of doing when it comes to crunch time. We believe we will survive and I think that should scare the teams around us a little bit."
He added: "I can honestly say there has not been one season when I've thought, 'This is it.' I've never admitted defeat. For sure, I've looked at the table a few times and thought, 'This is going to be tricky,' but I can honestly say, I've never said: 'That's it, we're relegated.'
"Pride kicks in, when everybody else says you are going to be relegated, that's the motivation, the need to prove people wrong. It's very powerful. At least, it is at Sunderland.
"Of course, you don't want to be known as relegation escape artists. It would be great if we could just chill out in mid-table one year, without the type of pressure we are under now, but it's part of the game.
"We have constantly been pulled into these scraps, but we have always won them. I understand why people criticise us, I know why people think we deserve to go down, but what I'll say to that is, we have always survived, others haven't. We have something other clubs haven't got. We turn negative situations into a positive."
