Sunderland team news: The players set to miss the Birmingham City match | OneFootball

Sunderland take on Birmingham City in the Championship at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

The Black Cats kept their play-off hopes alive with a 1-0 win at struggling Cardiff City on Monday, with Dennis Cirkin's 60th-minute strike securing all three points.

Tony Mowbray's men are currently 10th in the table, four points from the play-off places with five games remaining.

They host a Birmingham side sitting 17th in the league, but the Blues make the trip to the North East having lost just one of their last seven games, winning three of those to all but secure safety.

Ahead of the game, Mowbray says his side may need to win all five games to have a chance of making the play-offs and while he conceded that is unlikely, he wants his players to be excited about the challenge ahead.

"Really, the target has to be for us to get as close as we possibly can to winning five football matches. That's what it might take and, let's be honest, that's pretty unlikely because we haven't done it all season, so why would we do it now?" Mowbray told ChronicleLive.

"But let's enjoy the challenge, starting with Birmingham tomorrow. Let's get three points, and see where that takes us."

What is the latest Sunderland team news ahead of the Birmingham City game?

Mowbray could be boosted by the return of Luke O'Nien, who did not travel to South Wales earlier in the week as his partner was due to give birth.

The 59-year-old is yet to decide whether O'Nien will start, but expects him to be 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 told the Sunderland Echo.

"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."

Mowbray is not expecting many of the club's other absentees to return before the end of the season, with Dan Ballard the only player who could potentially return after missing the previous few weeks with a hamstring injury, but he will not be risked if the club are out of play-off contention.

"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]."

Will Sunderland beat Birmingham City?

Sunderland probably go into the game as favourites, though it will be a tough test against a much-improved Blues side who can play with freedom knowing they have likely secured survival.

Mowbray is right that the Black Cats have little margin for error with time running out to make the top six, but back-to-back home games against sides near the bottom represents an excellent opportunity to close the gap.

Sunderland had chances to make their game against Cardiff more comfortable, but the absence of a clinical striker has been damaging in recent months and while there is no doubt they will always create chances, a lack of cutting edge has been an issue.

If the likes of Amad Diallo, Jack Clarke and Joe Gelhardt are on form, you would back the Black Cats to be victorious this weekend.