Sunderland AFC news: Cats midfielder on future, ex-Arsenal defender impresses, Rodwell to start against Palace?

The central midfielder is on loan at Rovers until the end of the season alongside Sunderland teammate Danny Graham.

"I'm enjoying my time here.

"My first half of the season at Sunderland wasn’t that good in terms of playing, but I’m playing now and I’m happy," the 30-year-old told the Lancashire Telegraph.

The Spaniard has a year left on his Sunderland deal but Blackburn Rovers would love to extend his stay in the North West.

Gomez, who has caught the eye of boss Paul Lambert, admits it is too early to make those decisions.

He added: "At the moment I'm not thinking about the summer, I'm just focused on my time here and helping the team get the results.

"When the moment is right we’ll think about the summer."

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Eboue’s trial outing for Sunderland got a thumbs-up from Under-21 boss Andy Welsh, despite the Black Cats suffering a costly defeat in their title bid.

Ex-Arsenal defender Eboue completed the full 90 minutes in the U21s’ 1-0 defeat to Leicester City last night.

"I was talking to him and he was saying that’s the first 90 minutes he’s had in more than a year,” said Sunderland development coach Welsh.

"He showed a good attitude and he looked better as the game wore on. He found his feet."

For the full story click here:Meanwhile, Jack Rodwell is in Sam Allardyce’s thinking for tonight’s crunch visit of out-of-form Crystal Palace.

But the Sunderland boss will not necessarily chance his arm on a more attack-minded starting XI, despite the Black Cats’ desperate need to inflict an eighth Premier League defeat in nine on Alan Pardew’s Palace side.

"He (Rodwell) comes into my thinking, yes," Allardyce said.

"We had a long chat yesterday and another look at Crystal Palace to decide if there needed to be any changes to the starting XI.

"But I still think the emphasis on our lads is to keep more clean sheets."

Click here for the full story:Sunderland host Crystal Palace tonight at the Stadium of Light (7.45pm kick-off) - and we've got it covered!

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