WITH Ross Stewart back in contention for a starting spot in today’s home game with Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray is excited at the prospect of pairing the Black Cats’ leading scorer with Ellis Simms in a two-pronged attack.

Stewart returned from a three-month injury-lay-off with a substitute appearance in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Hull City, and is set to feature in the starting line-up for today’s lunchtime kick-off at the Stadium of Light.

Throughout the vast majority of his Stadium of Light reign, Mowbray has been forced to play with a lone striker, but for much of his time as Blackburn boss, the Teessider fielded teams with two centre-forwards.

Stewart’s return gives him that option, and while Simms has performed admirably in his fellow forward’s absence given that he is still just 21, Mowbray feels both players could benefit from being part of a strike duo.

“I think Ellis has done amazingly well,” said the Sunderland boss. “Because he’s so big, we forget he’s still a pretty young guy. I think he’s taken the burden on particularly well, and he’s also scored a few goals, which of course is important.

“I think he’s a very talented guy, but he’s got so much growth in him and so much development still as a footballer. There are things he can learn, and I’m sure playing alongside Ross will be a massive help to him in his career moving forward. I said to him this morning, ‘I’m looking forward to playing two strikers alongside each other in the very near future’.

“If we do that, it gives us the flexibility to play three at the back and go 3-5-2 or we could also play 4-4-2 in whatever guise you want to do it. But I think it would be exciting to see them both linking together and playing together, particularly if you then have a (Jack) Clarke or a (Patrick) Roberts or an Amad (Diallo) servicing them. All of a sudden, the front end of the pitch looks really exciting.”

Stewart’s return should also aid Sunderland’s attacking midfielders, all of whom have had to spend time tyring to fill in as an auxiliary centre-forward during the first half of the season.

“For long spells, we had no centre-forwards,” said Mowbray. “So, whether it was Pritchard, Roberts or Embleton, someone had to go up front. I even asked Jack Clarke to play centre-forward at least twice. It’s not their natural game, and we’re hopeful that we can start to find the right balance now.

“In some games, it’ll be one forward and a choice of Ellis or Ross, but there’ll be others where we might play them together. I look forward to being able to link them together and play with two strikers, and I think that will benefit the attacking players around them too.

“What we decide to play behind them, we’ll have to wait and see. We could play someone like an Amad, or we could decide to go with two out-and-out wide players. We’ll see, but whatever way we do it, it’s good to have the options there, and we’re looking forward to the test of trying to find the right chemistry for the team as the games come along.”

Mowbray is also hoping the second half of the season will see an increase in game time for three of the youngsters that were signed in the final week of the summer transfer window.

While Amad has forced his way into the starting side, Abdoullah Ba, Edouard Michut and Jewison Bennette have all found first-team minutes hard to come by in the first half of the campaign.

“We’d like to get them more game time,” said Mowbray. “They’ve dealt with it really well, and there have been little injuries along the way too. Michut has been injured for a month or so, but he’s back out there now. He’s a kid who’s played with Messi, Mbappe and Neymar. He’s got immense talent, but has picked up knocks and niggles.

“We want to get them more game time, but where are they in their development? It’s stuttered, but I think the second half of the season will be the test for them all.

“If you look at them all, Jewison has some pretty hard competition with the likes of Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts around him and in front of him. They’re relatively young themselves, but Jewison is a baby at 18.

“Ba? We have to find what his best position is really. I’d say he’s like a number eight, but a classic number eight would play with a pivot behind him. They have to wait for their moment and their time, and then when the time is right, I have to have the bravery to put them in and accept it’s a growing process. They can’t always light it up, but it’s about growing them and giving them some minutes.”


Sunderland (probable, 4-4-2): Patterson; Gooch, O’Nien, Ballard, Cirkin; Amad, Evans, Neil, Clarke; Simms, Stewart.