EDOUARD MICHUT will be available for Sunderland’s weekend game with Bristol City, with Tony Mowbray revealing that the French midfielder was left out of the squad entirely for last night’s win over QPR because he wanted him to have an opportunity to get some proper rest.

Michut had started the Black Cats’ last four matches prior to last night’s trip to Loftus Road, a run that represented easily his heaviest involvement since joining Sunderland on loan from Paris St Germain last summer.

Given his workload, Mowbray decided to leave him out of the starting side for his side’s game with QPR, and once he had made that call, the Black Cats boss also decided to instruct Michut not to travel to London at all, enabling him to rest in the North-East.

Sunderland claimed a 3-0 win that enabled them to climb to fifth position in the table in the midfielder’s absence, and with Michut not carrying an injury, he should be back in the squad that takes on Bristol City at the Stadium of Light at the weekend.

Mowbray said: “We just rested Edouard and left him at home. He’s a young French kid who has never seen English football – he’s never played three games in a week in his life.

“Yet after the weekend, he’d played four games in ten days. Rather than travelling him all the way down to London and all the way back, we left him at home to relax and get ready for Saturday.”