What Tony Mowbray said about Ross Stewart, Sunderland team news and West Brom ahead of Championship fixture

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Tony Mowbray’s pre-match press conference.

The Black Cats boss is set to speak to the media at 12 noon today ahead of Monday’s match against West Brom, and we’ll have live updates right here.

Stick around and refresh the page for the latest SAFC news.

We’ll start with the Sunderland team news ahead of Monday’s game.

The Black Cats have several players back from injury following the World Cup break, including Lynden Gooch, Aji Alese and Dennis Cirkin.

Ross Stewart has also returned to training after over three months out with a thigh issue and could be named in the squad against West Brom.

Mowbray has also said defender Daniel Ballard is closing in on a return following a long-term injury setback.

Midfielder Edouard Michut still has a groin issue but could be available again soon, while Bailey Wright and Jewison Bennette have recently been involved for their countries at the World Cup.

We’ll get a further update from Mowbray this afternoon.

“I’ve played against them as a manager a lot over the years.

I’m actually at The Hawthorns tonight actually for Chris Brunt and James Morrison’s testimonial dinner. I promised to do it in the summer time.

“It’s a wonderful club, lovely people and there are still a lot of people there from when I was there in 2007 or 2008.

“I enjoyed living in the West Midlands, two of my children were born there and life was good. I lived around the Solihull area  and Birmingham is a lovely city to explore.

“Two Wembley, a play-off final, winning the league. I have a big picture at home of me holding up the Championship trophy.

“Happy days, happy memories. There are still lots of people at that club who I remember. I had good days there and I’m hoping we can have good days here.”

“Carlos is now in charge and I think the new manager is starting to put his identity on the club.

“I have been watching them this morning and they are on a good run. They actually got beat in a friendly this week against Elche, a Spanish team.

“I think they have very good players. Jed Wallace is someone I tried to sign at Blackburn and ended up at West Brom.

“I think John Swift was probably the best attacking player when he was at Reading and they both went there on free transfers, so they have two high-quality footballers there.

“You throw in your Diangana’s and they have a really good squad.

“We are expecting a really tough game, a team with an identity and we should expect a tough game.

“They are a very experienced football side with technical players and they will give us some problems on the day, but I’m sure we’ll give them some problems as well.”

“I think there’s a chance.

“He scored early on in that game and it was a really good goal

“It was played on a training ground, freezing cold, it wasn’t an ideal game but it was good for his confidence for him to be out there playing an 11 vs 11 football match.

“We’ll see how he trains the rest of the week. He was cooling down today with the lads who played that game.

“I think the minimum he’ll make the bench as long as he feels strong and confident.

“When players have been out for a while it’s got to be not just the manager’s decision and we have to make sure he feels confident in his body and is ready to impact the game at some stage.”

“Both are back.

“Bailey wanted to play yesterday so got a run out.

“Jewsison got back yesterday so trained today and looked good, looked sharp.

“It was interesting that he said it was a great experience for him. He played a part in all their games.

“Obviously playing against the Spanish and losing by seven wasn’t ideal but I just think for his age it’s an amazing experience for him to play at a World Cup.

“He showed some glimpses today of what he’s got, he’s sharp and quick. He’s another asset we can use as the season unfolds.”

“One or two are not training.

“Pritchard is not training, he came off with a slightly tight groin but I’m sure he’ll be fine.

“Luke O’Nien’s not training but was out there running today so I’m sure he’ll be fine.

“Dan Ballard has been in full training the last couple of days and we are looking to maybe give him some game time for the 21s away on Monday.

“He looks really powerful and strong in training. I remember him playing for Millwall last year against Blackburn.

“Michut is out there training and should be ready early next week to train.”

That brings us to the end of the broadcast section of the press conference, but Mowbray has also spoken to the written press including our SAFC writer Phil Smith.

We’ll have more from the Black Cats boss, as well as build-up to Monday’s game over on the SAFC section of the Echo website.