Sunderland will have ´no excuses´ for Norwich failure, says Poyet

Sunderland will have no excuses if the Premier League’s bottom club fail to beat Norwich City, manager Gus Poyet has warned.

Poyet’s men beat Chelsea in midweek to secure a place in the semi-finals of the League Cup and the Uruguayan is keen to build on that.

Chris Hughton’s team have pulled away from the drop zone after only two defeats in their last six league games but Poyet feels it is a game his side should win.

“When you play a top team like Chelsea, if you lose in extra-time you are devastated and take maybe two weeks to recover – but if you win you feel stronger and ready to play,” Poyet said.

“We want to take that result as a great boost of confidence into this game on Saturday.

“It’s a game we go into with no excuses and that is how I like to see my players go out onto the pitch.”

Sunderland will be bottom at Christmas regardless of Saturday’s result, a situation that only West Brom – in the 2004-05 season – have survived.

Still Poyet is hopeful the Stadium of Light outfit can pull off an unlikely escape.

“The position is not nice but I don’t try to hide it,” he added.

“If one team has done it, then so can somebody else and we hope it’s going to be us. But we have to make sure we do it as soon as possible.

“We need to get involved with the other teams who are close by so we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, then it will be possible. If we keep staying six or seven points behind it will be hard.

“It’s going to be tough but we need to make sure we do the right things ourselves first. We can’t keep thinking about our position otherwise it is impossible to win games.”