Tony Mowbray gives a Sunderland injury update ahead of crucial Birmingham City clash

O’Nien’s partner is due to give birth and so the defender did not travel with the group for the 1-0 win over Cardiff City earlier this week.

No final decision has been made on the 28-year-old’s involvement at this stage but he is expected to be at least in the squad.

"He trained today, as he’s trained for the last few days, so we’ll see how he fares and how things roll with that,” Mowbray said.

“He'll come in and train [tomorrow] and we'll assess it.

“He'll be in the matchday squad unless matchday is the day. We'll do the stuff on team structure on Friday and I'll sleep on it in terms of whether we bring Luke straight back in or not.”

The Sunderland head coach is otherwise expecting to take the same squad into the final games of the season, with only Dan Ballard potentially being fit enough to feature again.

However, Mowbray has made clear that they won’t take any risks with the defender and certainly not if there is no realistic prospect of the club making the top six.

"Ballard might be ready for the second last game of the season,” Mowbray said.

"Maybe, if we’re pushing it. If we don’t need to, then we won’t. But there’ll be nobody else [available].”

Ballard has been absent with a hamstring injury in recent weeks and will be given the off-season to recover if the club’s top-six prospects fade over the next week.