Sunderland boss Gus Poyet is keen for Connor Wickham to prove himself Premier League class.

Wickham is set to feature at Liverpool tonight after being recalled from his loan at Leeds United.

On Wickham, Poyet said: "I'm not going to judge him in this game (tonight) if he plays.

"I'm not mad enough to say 'You played against Liverpool and didn't score, so I'm not going to play you any more'. It's about searching for a solution. When I came here, we had five strikers and there was an expectation about how I was probably going to use them.

"For some reason, he was falling to the bottom of the five. He went on loan and did very well, but then when Ji (Dong-Won) left, we brought another striker (Ignacio Scocco) in.

"There was always something happening in between.

"But he's going to get a great chance now. I would like Connor to look at this as though we have just signed him for the first time. He is a new player, nobody knows him, and he is a young English striker with incredible power.

"He's coming to a club to help us to get away from relegation. If he has that impact, that will be fantastic. That will be the 'bang' we need. I need to search for something, that is part of my job."