Tony Mowbray has this clear warning for Sunderland as they return to Championship action with optimism soaring

Expectations have undoubtedly shifted. Even accounting for Alex Neil's departure, 15 points from 10 games have shown that this squad can compete and if in pre-season there was some apprehension to match the excitement, now there is a definite sense of possibility.

A table posted by statistician Experimental361 on Friday, though, underlined just how fine the margins are in this division. Though highly unlikely, Sunderland could yet finish the day in 15th.

So while Tony Mowbray is keen for his side to ride the wave of positivity as they return from the international break, he sees it as part of his role both internally and externally to ensure everyone keeps their feet on the ground.

"If you look at the league, and to be honest I try not to, the team that is third bottom of the league is five points away, so they could be ahead of you by close of play on Tuesday," Mowbray said.

"We need to have that context, we're doing alright in an extremely tight league where everybody can beat everybody.

"It's not really until after Christmas in my mind that you can look at the table genuinely and start thinking about these things, you've got to accumulate points and build your platform, in this league probably 50 points is that.

"We're accumulating points at this point but nothing more, we're doing OK. I know there will be some tough days around the corner, when the questions are so different and I'm trying to say, 'well if we win the next two...'.

"It's important just to stay calm, trust the team to work really hard. Some days the keeper will make saves, it'll hit the post and come out, and I'll be talking about the fine margins of this game.

"What I do know is that we're not good enough to win 3-0 every game against every team in this league. We're a really hard-working, honest team, with some flashes of really talented footballers who can make a difference.

"We will give it our best shot every game, let's not get too high and too low if we lose a couple."

Part of Mowbray's caution is because he is taking a small and relatively inexperienced squad into a bruising schedule, where they will play 10 league games in just over 40 days before the World Cup break.

Dan Ballard and most likely Ross Stewart will be missing throughout, while at this stage it is unclear how much Ellis Simms will be able to feature.

"It's going to be a test," Mowbray said.

"When I look at the numbers I've got on my board, there's not really going to be much chance to rest or rotate.

"I don't want to keep mentioning Blackburn but I was there a long time and what I found was, if you keep going back to the well it can catch up with you.

"I felt it caught up with us there. We were a young, strong, athletic team and we could beat anyone on our day, I felt that. But when some pretty key players fall away, it can be tough. Now we've had some key players missing and the players have shown they can do it [cope], now it's whether we can do it when it's key players in the core [of the team], and we've just played three back-to-back midweek games and we've got to travel etc. This is why the mentality is just as important as the talent - and that's my job to give them that cause for them to fight for.

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"The fans do play a big part in that because they travel in huge numbers everywhere, and that bank of red-and-white that they'll see when they come out of the tunnel every game gives them that incentive," he added.

"We'll see how it goes. It feels exciting because of the young, exciting players that we've got, we've got to keep it going and finding ways to win without getting carried away. That's my message.

"It's not always easy to keep young footballers' feet on the ground, because they read and hear everything. What I'm conscious of is making sure that when any of that turns negative, the impact isn't too great. Experience tells me that day is coming somewhere."

Mowbray knows all the same the power of both players and fans feeling they belong and can thrive at this level.

"You have to gather that belief that you can compete when you jump up a league, and I think that the players feel they can be competitive at this level," he said.

"And yet there will be days where... a game can run away from you sometimes, particularly when you've got a bench full of attacking players and you put them on to try and turn it around.

"From being one goal down or two down, it can get away from you because you're chasing it. That can happen.

"We believe we can compete, Watford away was a great example. A team in the Premier League last year, with some super individuals, and I know they haven't met their expectations yet but we could have taken three points.

"These moments convince the players that they can compete so when we get to the bad day that's round the corner somewhere, we won't think that's the norm because we've shown that it's not."