Sunderland boss makes an honest squad admission as he weighs up big midfield dilemma

Evans was rested for the 1-0 defeat as Mowbray feared he was one of a few Sunderland players at risk of fatigue-induced injury after playing a key role in the opening stages of the season.

Despite impressing against Huddersfield Town as a midfield two when introduced for the bench in the second half, Dan Neil and Abdoullah Ba both struggled to protect their team against Cardiff's counter-attacking threat.

The qualities Evans has brought to the side over the last eight months were made clear in his absence and it's a position that Mowbray has previously admitted the club had looked to add cover for Evans in the latter stages of the deadline window. While it's a position that PSG loanee Edouard Michut would like to compete for in the long run, a groin injury has ruled him out of action until after the upcoming World Cup break.

"We look at the opposition and whoever is fit, we have to get a combination and a balance," Mowbray said.

"You can throw Embleton and Pritchard in there in terms of that part of the pitch.

"If you play one six and two eights, you have to say Pritchard and Embleton are part of that as well, they can both play as the eight who breaks lines and breaks forward. They can obviously both play as a ten as well. We seem to have an overload of those sorts of players but we seem to have a slight discrepancy in that Corry Evans is the only of that type of footballer.

"Abdoullah Ba probably has the potential to play there and I think he's starting to come on board with that, in terms of bringing the aggression to his game as well. We'll have a really talented footballer there and the same with Dan Neil, what a talent. I've said before that I thought about signing him for Blackburn, I felt he was one of the best players in League One.

"Working with him now I can see that I need to help him in certain areas, and I want to see him bring that personality to the game because he's got all the attributes. He can run, tackle, he can hit long and short passes. We want him to get on the ball more and dominate the game a bit more, as he's an undoubted talent.

"They're all competing to play and some days we play with two eights, some days with two sixes. We have to get the right balance."

Evans is likely to return to the starting XI when Sunderland travel to Birmingham City on Friday night, and Mowbray will be forced into at least one further additional change as Luke O'Nien is suspended. Trai Hume is in contention to start, while the head coach will additionally be considering a recall for Alex Pritchard.