Sunderland handed Alex Prichard boost with midfielder now 'training properly'

Sunderland could be boosted by the return of key midfield player Alex Pritchard for the two games either side of New Year.

Pritchard suffered a calf injury before the trip to Hull and was still missing for the visit of Blackburn rovers on Boxing Day.

Before that game, Tony Mowbray suggested Pritchard was unlikely to feature in the upcoming games at Wigan and Blackpool, but he now sounds a lot more optimistic as he confirmed the former Tottenham man would be part of the squad.

"Alex Pritchard will be travelling with us, he trained properly with us for the first time on Tuesday," Mowbray said.

"He's a really important player for us, he's very good out of possession for an attack-minded player.

“He's an intelligent footballer and it's good for us that he's back training. He'll be impacting games for us soon, I'm pretty sure."

Sunderland are also missing Elliot Embleton at the moment, but Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts and Amad Diallo formed an exciting attacking midfield three in the win over Blackburn.

Edouard Michut will also be an option if Mowbray wants to shake things up a bit. Ellis Simms scored the winner from the bench on Boxing Day too so the Sunderland boss could opt for a front two at the DW Stadium.

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