Tony Mowbray confirms fresh Sunderland injury setback and makes selection admission

Tony Mowbray says Sunderland have picked up an injury to a 'key' player ahead of the visit of Watford on Wednesday night, and adds that he isn't expecting any of his currently injured players to return before the international break.

That all but rules both Bradley Dack and Pierre Ekwah out of the visit of Middlesbrough on Saturday, with Mowbray stating that the upcoming break is going to be crucial to building their fitness to a point where there is no risk of further injury issues.

The currently unknown injured player has a chance of returning for the Middlesbrough game, but is a major doubt at this stage.

Mowbray admits it will have a fairly significant impact on his set-up for the upcoming games and has made clear that he does not at the moment have the options to rotate his side despite a challenging schedule.

“Without telling you everything, we’ve had to do some tactical changes today," Mowbray said.

"You’ll see the team when it comes out, but there’s a big difference with the injury that’s been picked up.

“That’s meant we’ve had to move the team around to make it work. We’ve had to do that to make sure we have enough people attacking and enough people defending. Otherwise, you have players moving too much in and out of possession and the balance of the team isn’t right. There’s lots of tactical stuff we’ve had to, but this group embrace that. It’s good that they want to learn.

“The challenges are always there. We have picked up an injury to a pretty key player in the way we play, but let’s just push on and see if we can keep the fluency of the team going. The player has been ruled out of the Watford game but Middlesbrough, we're not sure yet.

"We're not going to have anyone back for these next two games, I don't think," Mowbray added of Ekwah and Dack.

"The international break is coming and for Bradley and Pierre, I think those two extra weeks will be a huge extra benefit for them. They'll be working in the gym and working on their injuries. I'm sure that after the international break we'll be very close to having some real choices to make. It might not be the Stoke game because some of these players will need some U21 minutes first, but I think the choices are going to start to get better.

"There isn't going to be much rotation at the moment, the team on my board today picks itself if I'm honest. We've got 20 players available before you go into the younger teams."

Mowbray expects both Aji Alese and Eliezer Mayenda to be fit to make their first appearances of the campaign at some stage after the international break, though they will both need some U21s football before they are exposed to Championship action.

Dennis Cirkin will also be fit to return after the international break after his recent hamstring issue.