Tony Mowbray drops a big Sunderland selection hint and gives team news update ahead of Swansea City test

Mowbray is carefully weighing up when to introduce Sunderland's late summer signings to the starting XI, with Jewison Bennette in particular pushing for inclusion in the absence of a natural, senior striker in the squad.

The head coach will also decide whether to bring Dennis Cirkin back into the matchday squad after recovering his recent hamstring injury.

Sunderland will fly to South Wales on Friday and though Mowbray is acutely aware of the impact of potential fatigue in the group, he has by and large been pleased with both the application and the performance of his established players.

"I'm making calls on these players to see how I feel they're evolving and interacting with the group," Mowbray said.

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"I think it's very difficult to within a month integrate straight into the way we play and what we want to do. I'm not sitting here thinking, 'expect five changes at the weekend', I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.

"I know we've drawn three of the last four but the lads have done pretty well, we've worked extremely hard and they deserve to keep going and see how it goes.

"Whether we tinker with it a little bit - let's wait and see. Dennis Cirkin will be travelling with us for instance and we'll see what the plan is with him.

"Jewison hasn't had a start because he'd been half way around the world on international duty and he's just a kid, but I think he'll bring that this team needs, a bit of speed in behind and that directness.

"He wants to stretch the opposition backline and at some point we need to think about the assets we've got and at what stage we utilise them."

Though some Sunderland players missed training on Thursday as they recovered from Tuesday night's game, Mowbray doesn't expect any further absentees on Saturday.

A late winner for Russell Martin's side against Watford on Wednesday night lifted the Swans into sixth position in the Championship table.