Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has admitted that he is all too aware of the fixture pile-up his side face if they are to progress to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
The Black Cats will already have two games in hand on their relegation rivals due to a postponement and their commitments in the final of the Capital One Cup.
Poyet told Sky Sports News: "The longer it goes and the more games we get in hand, it can be bad, it can be worse. There are teams who are winning and going away who were very close two or three weeks ago.
"If we or Everton go through, then it's another game that is going to be postponed, it's another game in hand, so you never get there and you don't know for real where you are.
"Again, we need to adapt. You can't have everything - if you are in the cup final, you are going to miss a game and if you are in a semi-final, you can miss another one, those are the fixtures."
Sunderland face Hull City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Simon Sinclair
