Sunderland boss Paolo di Canio is convinced of big things from Steven Fletcher and Jozy Altidore.

Di Canio is looking forward to pairing his two first-choice frontmen together for the first time.

The Italian head coach said: “Fletcher is a player who gives us another option.

“Jozy and him are the two players in the squad who are natural goalscorers.

“The others, yes, everyone can score - Ji Dong-won, Connor Wickham and Stephane Sessegnon - but they [Fletcher and Altidore] are the players who score goals on instinct, players who smell the goal.

“So he [Fletcher] is important to us.

“You need players who can spot mistakes in the box and capitalise on them.

“We will be putting a lot of balls into the box this season and we need players like Fletcher, like Jozy, who will thrive on them."