Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has revealed that he will ask his plays to be "brave" when they travel to Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Black Cats complete a difficult week of fixtures, which has seen them earn an impressive draw with table-topping Chelsea and lose 4-1 at home to Manchester City, with a trip to Anfield tomorrow.

Poyet has admitted that they were never going to come through this run of games unscathed, but has urged his squad to "keep believing" that they can make things difficult for the best teams in the country.

"I don't think we need to repair anything but the idea is to keep believing," he told reporters.

"I think it was more of a dream that we were in a position not to lose any of these three games in a row.

"We need to be brave - that's the word we're going to use the most this weekend. We are going in there willing to play and make it difficult in both ways, offensive and defensive."

Sunderland are 14th in the table, having lost only four matches this season - two fewer than Liverpool.