GUS POYET has urged his Sunderland players to use Saturday’s spirited draw against Chelsea as their inspiration when they take on Manchester City and Liverpool in the space of the next six days.

The Black Cats host the reigning Premier League champions on Wednesday before travelling to Anfield to face Liverpool at the weekend, and will head into the daunting double-header buoyed by yet another impressive display against one of the division’s leading teams.

Poyet’s side became the first team to prevent Chelsea from scoring in any competition this season as they extended their unbeaten run against the league leaders to three matches.

Defensively resilient and extremely well organised, Sunderland successfully frustrated the highest-scoring team in the top-flight, and their head coach is calling for a repeat when Manchester City arrive on Wearside in two days time.

“The players should go into these games now with a mentality of thinking we can win,” said Poyet, “We can beat Man City and we can beat Liverpool.

“Chelsea did everything possible to win it – they passed the ball right, left, over the top, in the corners. They threw on every striker they had on the bench and tried their best. But we did something special and we have to take that into the next games.”

Saturday’s result was something of a tactical triumph for Poyet, who bolstered his central midfield with the return of Jack Rodwell and instructed his players to deny their opponents space and time on the ball.

Sunderland defended superbly throughout, maintaining their shape when they were not in possession and successfully shutting off the supply line to the Premier League’s leading goalscorer, Diego Costa.

Chelsea were restricted to a handful of half chances and, if anything, it was Sunderland who created the better opportunities as they gradually built up their own head of steam in the final quarter of the game.

“It’s nice to have a plan and see it come off – that is the greatest feeling for a manager,” said Poyet. “That is what I enjoy about this job – when you achieve what you think your players can achieve.

“Sometimes, you try something and it’s a disaster, you were wrong. But I enjoyed seeing my team enjoying defending. We then started to come into the game and the players that came on gave us something extra, we started to create chances.

“It’s not easy (to face a team like Chelsea). The simple things are that you cannot play openly against them. They are better than us. You cannot leave too much space to (Eden) Hazard or Costa because they are very good and will punish you.

“It is about shape, defending, caring, discipline. Not too many teams enjoy defending like that – but against top teams you need to do that.

“We worked on it and the players were exceptional. It wasn’t easy for Chelsea to come here and find all of our players in the last part of the pitch, but that’s what you have to do.”

The challenge now is to add more of an attacking edge to Sunderland’s obduracy and resilience, with the goalless draw meaning the Black Cats have failed to score in four of their last six league games.

Only two sides have scored fewer goals in the top-flight than Sunderland this season – Burnley and Aston Villa – and Poyet accepts there is a need to enhance his side’s goalscoring threat.

The return of Ricky Alvarez and Emanuele Giaccherini should add another dimension to Sunderland’s attacking play, but there is surely a need to add at least one creative player when the transfer window reopens at the start of next month.

“The first step is to be difficult to play against,” said Poyet. “We then have to bring in the quality from the injured players.

“In two or three months’ time, I would like to be winning that game against Leicester (that was drawn 0-0). We need to take that extra risk.

“Chelsea was different, but I want to have that option to be a team who will win more than draw. That will take time - or a couple of players in January.”