Phil Parkinson believes MK Dons have got the capacity to "raise their game" ahead of their clash with Sunderland.
The Black Cats travel to Stadium MK on Saturday looking to stretch their unbeaten run to seven matches and close the gap further on the automatic promotion places.
Parkinson's side are the overwhelming favourites to triumph this weekend, having already beaten the Dons at the Stadium of Light in September.
But the relegation-threatened Dons have enjoyed an upturn in results under new manager Russell Martin.
Martin's side recently beat promotion-chasers Oxford United and held Coventry City to a draw on their own patch.
Parkinson watched the Dons in their narrow defeat at Burton Albion on Tuesday night, and he believes they were "very unlucky" not to take anything from the match.
However, the Black Cats boss is confident his side can secure a positive result if they maintain their recent performance levels.
Parkinson said: "I saw them play at Burton and I thought they were very unlucky not to get something from the game.
"They dominated it for long periods, they've got some good players.
“They have got the ability to raise their game but if we can reproduce our performance level of late we have a great chance of coming back with a positive result.”
"Like all games, we've got to focus on our performance level and making sure that we produce like we did away at Fleetwood and Doncaster.
"In those games, we played very much on the front foot and the message to the lads was to play like the home team.
"We've got 4,000 plus fans coming down, and we've got to treat it like it's a home game and be as positive as possible because when we've done that recently on our travels we've looked good."
