http://www1.skysports.com/football/...poyet-wants-striker-connor-wickham-to-step-up Gus Poyet has called on Sunderland striker Connor Wickham to prove he is a Premier League striker and fire the club to safety. Wickham scored his first Premier League goals since October 2011 in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City and will line up against title-chasing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. With Steven Fletcher out injured and Fabio Borini, Jozy Altidore and Ignacio Scocco out of favour, the Sunderland boss is turning to the £8.1m signing from Ipswich to help the club avoid relegation. He said: "For a player to come together at a very early age with that price-tag on his shoulders, everything needs to be good, and the most important part is that the team is performing well and has got the time to play and get used to him. "It's a process, so who knows? Maybe the best thing for Connor is that the team is playing in the relegation battle and he is part of it. "Maybe if we were playing for something else or Fletch was fit and scoring goals, maybe he wouldn't be playing. Sometimes, you have to take advantage of any situation." Player Profile 10. Connor Wickham Appearances 23 (8)Goals 13Assists 3Yellows 3Reds 0Current Season Poyet has been impressed with Wickham's contribution but says there is only one meaningful currency in which frontmen deal and that is hitting the net. He added: "For a striker, there is a limit. Some managers will give you five games, some managers 10, some managers 20, but at the end of the day, you need to score, so the main thing for Connor was to get in there and score a couple of goals. "It was impressive for different reasons, one because we needed the goals, for sure, and secondly because it was away at Manchester City, which is not easy, and it was at the moment that we needed the goals. "We all talk about players and confidence, and strikers, maybe they go 10, 15 games without scoring and then they score seven or eight in two weeks. I am looking forward to that." Sunderland are six points away from Premier League safety with just five games left to play and the chances of them reducing the gap this weekend look remote with Chelsea unbeaten in the league at Stamford Bridge under manager Jose Mourinho in 77 attempts. The Uruguayan said: "Who would have thought Sunderland are maybe going to decide the title one way or another? No-one, eh? "We don't play for anyone apart from ourselves. It's going to be more of a shock if we beat Chelsea because they have never lost at home under Mourinho in the Premier League. If you think why Sunderland, people would ask why? We will see. "The idea is to go and be brave, but not brave in terms of taking risks and being silly. The idea is to be brave playing the way we play, defending how we need to defend and trying to play our football. It doesn't just depend on what Chelsea are going to do." I'm hoping the kid grabs this oppertunity with both hands and can give a big **** you to Bruce, MON and Di Canio and show he was worth a run of games. Im really hoping that this high pressure situation we find ourselves in is the trigger that brings Connor out of the shadows and showing he is a good forward and our best chance for goals.
Borini and Scocco out of favour ???????? also the same sky sports that states in the Chelsea v SAFC preview "Lee Cattermole has scored one Premier League goal for every 66.8 fouls he has conceded" - I wonder how many other players they work that stat out for? Pack of gobshites
He has been excellent, but Johnson poor today, why can they not get in there and have a go, we can win this game.
