Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has backed "key, key player" Steven Fletcher to score the goals to steer them away from Premier League relegation.

The Scottish forward has only found the net three times this season, with the latest of his strikes coming in the 2-2 draw with Cardiff City on Boxing Day.

While that is a modest tally, Poyet feels that the 26-year-old is the vital component in their survival battle and can fire them out of the bottom three if the Black Cats can provide him with more chances.

"There are positions on the pitch - with respect to everybody, of course, and every single player - that are key in any team," Poyet told reporters. "Fletch is key, he is a key player for us and we need to make sure that we give him more chances.

"People talk about the spine of the team - goalkeeper, centre-half, centre-midfielder and striker - but nowadays, I would like to say that everybody is looking for that striker who will score you 20 goals, so the strikers are the main ones. That's why sometimes they earn the most and they are most expensive ones to buy.

"He had one only against Everton and he couldn't score, but then he had one and somehow - I don't know how, still, he stretched himself to score the goal - so we need to put him in there many, many times so that he will score plenty of goals."

Fletcher, who cost Sunderland £12m in 2012, enjoyed his most prolific English top-flight season in 2011-2012, when he struck a dozen times for Wolverhampton Wanderers.