Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has confirmed that he will be giving some of the fringe members of his squad an opportunity in the FA Cup tie against Southampton.

The Black Cats take on the Saints in the fifth round of the competition on Saturday, and Poyet believes that it is the perfect chance to rotate his players.

"I was looking forward to giving a few players opportunities and that will not change," the Uruguayan told the Sunderland Echo.

"We have a few players who need to play and deserve to play but, for different reasons, they haven't been able to.

"I'm talking about players like [Emmanuele] Giaccherini and [Ignacio] Scocco. They both need minutes, so we're going to use that game for this."

Sunderland saw their fixture against Manchester City postponed on Wednesday.