Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray gives a big injury update on Ellis Simms ahead of Luton Town trip

Simms has been missing since the early stages of the 3-0 win over Reading with ligament damage in his toe, during which time Sunderland have to play without a recognised striker.

The Everton loanee has now come through almost a week of full training unscathed, raising hopes that he will be able to play some part at Kenilworth Road.

"I hope so,” Mowbray said.

“He’s trained all week, he still has a slight awareness [of the foot injury] so I have to get the balance right between throwing him in and managing him back. We’ve got four games before that World Cup break so I would hope that we can build him up, maybe 20/30 minutes then 60 etc.

“I think Ellis is the most important thing, so we won’t be putting him at risk by sending him out there and trying to get 90 minutes of football, but it’s great that he’s training back with us and if there’s no reaction, there’s no reason why he can’t travel with us to Luton.

“So far he’s not mentioned that there’s been any reaction.”

Mowbray says the return of a recognised striker will make a significant difference to the threat his side can pose, but warned that Simms will need some time to get back fully up to speed. Sunderland hope that Ross Stewart will then return after the World Cip break to further bolster the ranks.

“I don’t want to overburden Ellis but it’s a fact that we’ve been without strikers for a number of weeks,” Mowbray said.

“But to have a central play back who can threaten the space behind the opposition defensive line… it will be beneficial to us as a team. But he’s got to get himself up to fully speed and hopefully the performance level will improve as it goes along, we can’t expect miracles from him straight away but it’s good to have a player of his ilk back in the team going forward.”