New boys give Cats options

“We are so happy for him for his goal, it was really good and it gave us a draw,” said the Costa Rica international.

“I hope that will continue for the next games, his goals will be important.”

There is no shortage of Goodison Park connections in the Black Cats camp.

Oviedo spent close to five seasons on Merseyside, having joined the Toffees from FC Copenhagen in 2012.

The left-back played 68 times for the club in league, cups and Europe and is looking forward to returning to his old stamping ground.

“It’s very exciting to be going back to Goodison Park,” he said.

“It’s a good opportunity for me to play against my old team.

“But it’s a good opportunity for us to go and win that game.”

Given a whole division separates tonight’s cup adversaries, outwardly there appears no pressure on Sunderland.

In cricket parlance, the Black Cats have a ‘free hit’ but Oviedo does not totally agree.

“It’s an important match for us,” he said. “With it being the cup, it could be seen as a more relaxing game but we need to start winning.

“We played better [last Tuesday] against Forest and we played well at Hull.

“We are improving, step by step, but we now need to keep improving and we need to start winning.”