Tony Mowbray issues Sunderland squad update ahead of Swansea City clash | OneFootball

Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray has confirmed that defender Dennis Cirkin will be back amongst the Black Cats squad as they make the long trip to South Wales to face Swansea City on Saturday afternoon.

The former Tottenham Hotspur man was supposed to be involved in the matchday squad that took on Blackpool, having picked up a hamstring problem in early September in the second half of the 1-0 North East derby defeat against Middlesbrough.

One month on though and Cirkin has still not made his return, with Mowbray choosing to give the 21-year-old an extra rest ahead of the trip to the Swansea.com Stadium this weekend.

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Mowbray has also hinted that exciting teenage winger Jewison Bennette could feature from the start against Russell Martin’s side, having only been used from the bench in the previous two matches.

“Dennis will be travelling with us, so we’ll make a decision on him,” Mowbray told Sunderland’s official media team.

“Amad got a start the other night; Jewison [Bennette] didn’t because he’d just been halfway around the world with his national side.

“We’ll take a look at the assets we have, against a strong Swansea team, and how best to utilise what we’ve got.”

There will be no such return yet though for Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms, who are nursing quad and toe injuries respectively.

It means that Mowbray will yet again be without a natural striker for the fourth match in a row, with Simms being withdrawn in the 3-0 demolition of Reading.

The Verdict

The return of Cirkin is a welcome one for Mowbray as Aji Alese has been playing out of position at left-back.

Even though Cirkin has been playing on the left-hand side of a back three for the most part this season when fit, it’s likely that he slots into Mowbray’s back four in-place of Alese, who can then move back into his natural position as a centre-back.

The more pressing issue now is getting at least one striker back fit and firing, because Sunderland are struggling in-front of goal without them.

Their two recent home games yielded zero goals, with the likes of Patrick Roberts, Alex Pritchard and Amad Diallo failing to fire, and they face a tough task against an in-form Swansea side this weekend.