Sunderland boss explains the big dilemma he's been weighing up ahead of Luton Town clash

The Black Cats have struggled on home turf of late, particularly against sides happy to sit off the ball and break in numbers.

Without Ross Stewart to stretch the play and Corry Evans to protect the defence, Mowbray's side have been left vulnerable of late and the head coach has already stated that it's something he will look to address in the summer.

Between now and then he is faced with the dilemma of whether to try and tighten up his side - which will offer greater protection but a significantly poorer spectacle for another big crowd, or whether to bet on the technical players in his squad to play their way through a side impressive out of possession.

Mowbray will have Amad to call upon at some stage during the game after a recent injury, which will give him some welcome freshness and quality, but his longer-term injuries have left him with problems that are not easy to solve.

"It's a real conundrum for me and my staff," Mowbray said.

"We sit there for hours debating whether we double down on what we do in these games, or do we just give it straight back and have a good shape behind the ball? Try and nick it off them, so it's only one or two passes to get to a shot, rather than ten passes or a brilliant, mazy run from Patrick Roberts to slip someone one.

"We're always having these debates about what is the best way and in our defence, I don't think we've got it wrong too many times.

"I'm conscious that the most glaring time was the game against Stoke that meant a lot to our supporters. That's why on that day I felt that it was right to apologise.

"Probably the best thing to say is that we have some challenges with what we have available, and so we have choices to make. "We do have some options, we have experienced players in Alex Pritchard and Lynden Gooch on the bench, and yet I don't think it's right so soon after their injury to expose them to back-to-back 90 minutes. I think after the international break they'll be in a better place because we can get a lot of work into them and they'll be robust.

"We do have some challenges, we do try to expand to score goals and that can leave us vulnerable. It's a game that we're looking forward to, but it's one where we know it's tough against a side that has not fluked its way into the top six. They're very hardworking and very good at what they do."

Luton Town have won four of their last five Championship fixtures, with all of those successes coming with a 1-0 scoreline. They sit fourth in the division and will provide a stern test for Sunderland as they look to keep their now very slim play-off hopes alive heading into the international break.