GUS POYET thinks Sunderland owner Ellis Short accepts it will take time to transform the club’s long-term Premier League fortunes.

Poyet has already had his share of ups and downs during his 13 months in charge at the Stadium of Light and admits he has a big job on his hands to stop the Black Cats from being associated with relegation battles.

Collecting four points from their last two matches with Everton and Crystal Palace has given Wearside a lift, but there is no danger of the Uruguayan taking anything for granted ahead of a trip to Leicester which is followed by tough games with Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.

This is Poyet’s first full season in charge of Sunderland and is keen to feel progress has been made. He believes, though, that Short, the club’s American owner, realises things will not just be sorted overnight – even if he demands results.

He said: “I talk to him and we’ve got an idea. We share a vision but you’ve got to be realistic. You need to keep proving yourself. It’s not that easy to say, ‘Yeah, go on – ten years, whatever happens to you we stick with you.’ It sounds great but it doesn’t happen in football.

“You need to at least be showing with results that it’s working. I think he understands bad days at the office, terrible days, it’s nice and I thank him for that because it doesn’t happen in too many parts of the world. In a certain way he understands and that’s great but this is England.”

Poyet made a name for himself in management by leading Brighton up through the divisions during four years. His success on the south coast led to his move to Sunderland and is keen to get to a stage where he feels everything is in place to take the club to a new level.

“I know the potential and I know what football means to everybody here and how it is making people feel when they have a special team,” said Poyet. “I had that feeling at Brighton because I assure you they were feeling that their team was a different one, a special one, totally different to the rest.

“It was getting better and better, then something happened – I don’t know why – and things changed. It was not the same. When you felt the good feelings from the fans as a manager or a football player – that they want to show you that they’re feeling great, they believe in you and they like you, they want you to stay – that’s great.”

Sunderland are feeling much better about themselves after the last couple of performances, but leading scorer Steven Fletcher looks set to miss this week’s trip to Leicester.

He suffered an ankle injury during Scotland’s 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland on Friday night and Gordon Strachan has already indicated the forward will not face England tomorrow night.

He is understood to have suffered the problem following a first half challenge from Aiden McGeady and Poyet is keen to have Fletcher assessed to determine the true extent of the problem. It is not thought to be as serious as the ankle ligament damage which ruined last season for him.

Sunderland winger Emmanuel Giaccherini, meanwhile, has played down talk of a January move to Napoli by insisting he is “not thinking of leaving”.