The veteran midfielder returned from loan at Sheffield Wednesday last weekend and with Sunderland still struggling with serious injury problems, will come into contention for the Bonfire Night fixture.

Top sport stories...
- Cats' January TV double.
- 'McCarthey battles Keane for Evans'.
- Jones fitness boost for Keane.
- Gordon: Get on with it.
- Jeffries clinches Olympic spot.

There had been speculation in Yorkshire that Kavanagh would be allowed to return to Hillsborough this week should the injury crises ease and the Stadium of Light.

But with Dwight Yorke almost certainly out of the game, Kavanagh looks likely to get the chance he has craved since the start of the season.

Manager Roy Keane told the Echo: "Graham is back here now and is very much a Sunderland player. Obviously he comes into contention for our next game.

"He's been away and got a few first team games under his belt as we'd wanted and the difference in him is clear.

"I've had Brian Laws, the Wednesday boss, on the phone to me just about every day asking about how the situation is regarding Graham but there are times when we have to think about ourselves before others."

Sunderland fielded a team against Fulham last week in which only one player had more than 50 Premiership appearances and Keane is conscious of the value of experience.

He said: "We missed Dwight Yorke last week both on the pitch and in the dressing room. There's no substitute for experience but Dwight is still very doubtful for next week's game.

"I said he was no higher than 50:50 for last week's game against Fulham and he didn't play.

"It's a similar situation this time around, he hasn't trained all week and although we won't make a final decision yet I'd only put him as 50:50 again."