Tony Mowbray has issued an update on his squad’s fitness as Sunderland prepare for Monday night’s visit of West Bromwich Albion.
The Lads are once again back at the Stadium of Light and seek a third straight Sky Bet Championship win after last weekend’s 3-0 success over Millwall.
Ross Stewart was absent for the victory, but Mowbray confirmed the front talisman is in contention to make his long-awaited return next up.
“There was no pressure to play him [on Saturday], but what’s important is the factor of trust in the medical department, and my relationship with Ross,” the Head Coach said.
“The medical department thought it was too dangerous a risk to play Ross at the weekend.
“If he’d started or come off the bench and then had to go back off the pitch again because he was limping, you’d say we got that wrong.”
Mowbray continued to discuss the positivity around Stewart’s situation, as well as noting good news on Dan Ballard.
“For me, Ross should train for a whole week and there are nine days between the Millwall and West Brom games, when he’ll be training a lot.
“We have a behind-closed-doors game with Middlesbrough which he could play some part in – he’s chomping at the bit to get back out there.
“We’re hoping Dan Ballard isn’t too far behind him – he and Ross are two of our very best players that we’ve been without, and let’s hope when they return that’s the case.”
Edouard Michut and Niall Huggins were two further players who did not feature in Saturday’s matchday squad, as Mowbray evaluated the condition of the duo.
Bailey Wright and Jewison Bennette are expected back from their respective World Cup campaigns in time for the match, but any potential part against Carlos Corberan’s Baggies will be assessed.
“It’s a frustrating one with Edou – it’s an issue in his leg which has dragged on longer than we anticipated. He gives us a different option, and we’re hoping Edou is right when he says he thinks he can be back in contention next week.
“Niall is just continuing to work on building that robustness after such a long time out – we only planned for him to get 60 minutes at Birmingham and he not only got through 90, but performed very well. We expect him to feature plenty moving forward.”