Michael Reeves
Sunderland got their own season back to winning ways at the weekend with a win over Norwich but, like the Swans, they have their own share of injuries as they prepare for their long trip to South West Wales this weekend.
A 3-1 win over the Canaries at the Stadium of Light stopped a run of three successive defeats that had seen them slip away from the Division’s Top 6 but they do arrive here in 8th place in the league although a Swans win would see them move to within one point of their opponents.
Sunderland do arrive with a boost in the news that Dan Ballard is not to serve a one game ban for five yellow cards. It was reported in several outlets that the former Arsenal player had been booked in the win over Norwich but it has now been confirmed that it was teammate Pierre Ekwah booked in the first half of the clash following Norwich City’s opening goal.
That goal had the nerves jangling at Sunderland as they fell behind on the back of that recent poor run of form but speaking after the match Tony Mowbray was clear that he felt the 3-1 win was deserved. Mowbray said: “I think it was the right result for the way the game went.
“It felt a little bit here we go again when they scored, I don’t think they’d been in our half up until that point and yet we’re a goal behind.
“We showed great character to get in front before half-time, with some really good, positive front-foot play. It was important for us, I thought it was harsh on us to have lost three games – there were some okay performances in there.
“You have to take it on the chin when you lose and what was important for us was to keep the confidence up. We showed them a lot of clips of the Leicester game and the rewards of playing on the front foot. We did that well today, suffocated them for long spells and it wasn’t really until the last 15 that they asked questions of us, and then in that period we could have scored more goals on the break.”
The injury list for the Black Cats includes Eliezer Mayenda, Adil Aouchiche and Timothee Pembele. Mayenda was supposed to feature on the bench against Norwich but picked up a minor setback as he looked set to feature in the squad for the first time since he signed in July. On his chances of appearing against the Swans, Mowbray said “He’ll be in and around it over the next week or two, I’m pretty sure of that.”
Aouchiche missed the weekend win but Mowbray added “The medical report tells me it’s one to two weeks so that’s not going to be a long problem,” meaning that he could feature against the Swans although the bench is the best option.
Whilst Pembele has suffered another setback with the injury that has prevented him making a Sunderland appearance to date and will be out for another three to four weeks.
Bradley Dack is now back amongst the first team action and was a substitute at the weekend but Cory Evans remains a long term absentee.
The game at the Swansea.com Stadium kicks off at 3pm Saturday.
