Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has expressed his admiration for Southampton ahead of Wednesday's fourth-round tie between the sides in the Capital One Cup.
The Black Cats welcome the Saints to the Stadium of Light with a quarter-final encounter at home to Chelsea awaiting the winner.
Southampton are currently in sixth place in the Premier League table, but Poyet insists that the South Coast club are worthy of their strong start to the season.
"They have done very well," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "They have kept the core of the team. They have added two or three players who are performing at great levels, so they are a very strong team.
"They are the biggest surprise so far, but it's totally deserved because they play a football which is quite brave and very aggressive, especially pressing at the beginning of the game, so there are plenty of things we need to do right to win this tie."
Sunderland were beaten 1-0 by local rivals Middlesbrough in the fourth round of last season's competition.
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