Jermain Defoe's arrival at Sunderland has been a "wake-up call" for the strikers who manager Gus Poyet already had at his disposal.
The Uruguayan is delighted with the way his January signing has slotted straight into the team, scoring his first goal for the club in last Saturday's 2-0 Premier League victory over Burnley.
However, Poyet has also been delighted with the response the 32-year-old's presence has prompted from fellow frontmen Connor Wickham, Steven Fletcher and Danny Graham as they vie for the right to play alongside the England international.
The 47-year-old said: "He's a wake-up call, we can call it. He has come in, a player like him, and you see you are going to have less chance of playing and you need to do something different to be in the team, so we have good competition and it's making us better. It's no coincidence that we are winning with him in the side.
"I know strikers are always about goals, but the way he moves, the options he gives us when he makes runs, how good he is on the ball -- he gives the opportunity to others to take advantage of that as well."
The victory over Burnley was followed on Tuesday evening by a second, the Black Cats' 3-1 FA Cup fourth-round replay win at Fulham, to cap a morale-boosting four days on Wearside.
Poyet had admitted last week that he is not a happy man when his side is losing, and his demeanour is decidedly more upbeat as he prepares for Saturday's league trip to Swansea.
Asked if he is happier this week, he said: "Yes, especially Tuesday. Burnley was very, very important -- three points in the Premier League is massive. But Tuesday was a good game to watch.
"As a coach, as a manager, when you are sitting there even when you are losing and your team is playing, there is nothing you can say. It's football.
"Sometimes you can be the better team by far, something happens and you lose the game, but you are still doing what you need to do, and that was the feeling at halftime and the feeling at the end, so I am pleased that we won because the performance deserved a win."
However, Poyet's pleasure has been tempered slightly by a series of injury concerns with Adam Johnson, Wickham and Jack Rodwell among a group of players rated only 50-50 for the game at the Liberty Stadium.
Winger Johnson is a doubt after undergoing surgery on a thumb, although he, like the other members of the walking wounded, has not been ruled out just yet.
Poyet said: "He is one of the touch-and-goes, one of the 50-50s. Tomorrow is a big day for Jonno.
"The thumb is all right, the wound is being checked right now just to make sure that everything is right for him to be able to play without any problem. We will see, we will see tomorrow."
Sunderland's only focus this weekend is the league, although minds will soon turn to the FA Cup fifth-round trip to League One Bradford and the chance to make it to the quarterfinals, although Poyet has made his feelings about a Coral Windows Stadium pitch already criticised by Bantams boss Phil Parkinson abundantly clear.
He said: "For us, it's going to make it difficult because most of the pitches in the Premier League are quite good. It's a new challenge.
"I was just trying to make fun of something that is quite unusual. There are not too many, probably, competing for the worst with the Blackpool pitch to see who is the worst.
"I don't know if there is a competition going on between the groundsmen. They shouldn't be very proud, not at all."