Sunderland team news: Tony Mowbray handed injury boost ahead of Swansea City fixture after Norwich win
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Sunderland are preparing for their Championship fixture against Swansea at the Swansea.com Stadium – and head coach Tony Mowbray held his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
The Black Cats got back to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Norwich last time out, a result which moved them up to eighth in the table.
Swansea are four points behind Sunderland following a 1-0 win at Blackburn last weekend and are 13th going into the match.
Here’s what was said at the Academy of Light as Mowbray spoke to the media:
RECAP: Tony Mowbray’s pre-match press conference
Key Events
- Sunderland are preparing for Saturday’s Championship match against Swansea at the Swansea.com Stadium.
- Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray held his pre-match press conference earlier today.
- Sunderland moved up to eighth in the table following a 3-1 win over Norwich last time out.
- Swansea are 13th following a 1-0 win at Blackburn last weekend.
Good Morning!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Tony Mowbray’s pre-match press conference ahead of Sunderland’s Championship fixture against Swansea City.
The Black Cats boss is set to speak to the media around 1pm - and we’ll have live updates right here.
Stick around and refresh the page for the latest SAFC news.
Team news
We’ll start with the Sunderland team news.
Playmaker Adil Aouchiche has missed Sunderland’s last two matches with a groin issue but has trained with the first-team group this week and could return to the squad at Swansea.
Eliezer Mayenda was also pictured in training this week and could be named on the bench for the first time this season following a hamstring injury.
Defender Aji Alese has been out on the training pitches at the Academy of Light but is expected to play for the under-21s side as he returns from a thigh issue which required surgery over the summer.
Corry Evans, Jay Matete and Timothee Pembele remain sidelined with longer-term injuries.
We’ll get a further update from Mowbray this afternoon.
Mowbray on the congested league table
“It’s a tight league. I think the top two have had an unbelievable start but the rest it’s pretty close and tight.
“There are lots of different ways to play in this league. Some teams are pretty direct, some are well organised, some are expensive.
“It’s difficult to prepare for them every two or three days and sometimes you have to work on yourselves and see if you can get results.
“The teams are all pretty tight to each other and apart from the top two you can’t really see any consistency with any of the teams, and we are part of that.”
Mowbray on Swansea
“We have to be organised and ready for Swana. They are expensive and it’s a club philosophy, not just with this manager or the last manager. I think the club philosophy is they want to play with the ball.
“The challenge is to be organised, have a game plan as best you can but as I moaned a bit last week with the weather it was really difficult to prepare for the game.
“Today the pitches are under water a little bit with the rain and the bits we did find was only enough to play small-sided ways.
“A lot of video work and we’ll go to Swansea and see how we get on.”
Mowbray on injuries
“I think the injury list for the last however many months now has been pretty solid on my board, around six first-team players unavailable with long-term injuries
“We have added Eliezer Mayenda to the group but he has only played one 90 minutes game against Hibs in a bounce match on the training ground.
“A few lads have travelled to Southampton for an under-21s game but we left Mayenda because of the hamstring issue and sitting on a coach for five, six, seven hours wasn’t going to be good. He’s going to come with us to try and integrate him with the group.”
Mowbray on win over Norwich
“To win football matches is a boost. I fully understand you have to string results together in this division.
“If we lose this one on Saturday everyone will be telling me we have won one out of four. As I’ve tried to say, I’m more interested in the performance level of the team, win, lose or draw. I genuinely believe over 46 games if you are the best team most weeks you are going to win more games.
“We work on all aspects of it, we try to build up, we try to make sure athletically we run and compete with every team, break down blocks and defensive units, integrate young players into the group. It’s a challenge but one we try to enjoy and do it with a smile on our face and get on with it.”
Mowbray on Chris Rigg’s England U17s call-up
“I’m delighted for him, disappointed that he’s going to miss four games for the team of course.
“Delighted for Chris, it’s a fantastic achievement for him to potentially captain that team as well.
“We had a long chat with him, delighted for him, it’s a fantastic experience and this club would never deny a young guy playing for his country at a World Cup.
“He has to understand when he comes back, hopefully the results have been really positive and he finds it difficult to get back in the group
“We are delighted for him he’s going to a World Cup and hopefully he can be successful.”
More to come...
That brings us to the end of the broadcast section of the press conference, yet Mowbray has also spoken to the written press including our reporter Phil Smith.
You can find more from the Black Cats boss and build-up to Saturday’s match over on the SAFC section of the Echo website.