TONY MOWBRAY admits the scheduling of Sunderland’s return to action after the international break presents a problem – with some players set to have only one day to prepare for the trip to runaway league leaders Burnley.

The Black Cats’ game at Turf Moor has been brought forward to Friday, March 31, with the final round of matches during the current international break not due to take place until the evening of Tuesday, March 28.

Sunderland have seven players away on international duty, and a number are not due to travel back to England until the Wednesday before the Wearsiders head to Burnley.

They will only be able to train on the Thursday morning, and while Burnley will also have players involved in international matches, Mowbray admits the rescheduling of the trip to Turf Moor has presented a logistical challenge.

“We’ve got players away with Northern Ireland, Ivory Coast, France Under-20s, and Patto’s (Anthony Patterson) obviously going away with England Under-21s,” said the Sunderland boss, who saw his side climb to 11th in the Championship table as they claimed a late equaliser against Luton at the weekend.

“I think we’ll have seven away who are generally in our team, so we won’t be able to spend the next two weeks preparing for Burnley on the grass. We’ll probably have one day to work with them – two for some and one for others – but we’ll just have to go and be positive and play our game, like we did at Fulham in the FA Cup and against Norwich last week.”

Edouard Michut and Abdoullah Ba will be the busiest of Sunderland’s players in the next two weeks as they are set to play three matches for France Under-20s against USA, Netherlands and England.

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Trai Hume and Dan Ballard could be involved in Northern Ireland’s Euros qualifier double-header with San Marino and Finland, while Amad Diallo will hope to feature as Ivory Coast play home-and-away matches against Comoros in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

Patterson is expected to make his England Under-21 debut in either Saturday’s game with France or next Tuesday’s meeting with Croatia, while Jewison Bennette is Sunderland’s longest traveller as he has already flown to Central America to be part of the Costa Rica squad that will face Martinique and Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League.

Given that the Panama game does not take place until the early hours of next Wednesday morning (UK time), Bennette would appear to have very little chance of playing a prominent role when Sunderland return to action against Burnley.

Sunderland face a huge task as they attempt to spring a surprise in Lancashire, but having watched his side give a decent account of themselves against Norwich, Sheffield United and Luton, Mowbray insists they have nothing to fear.

“To be honest, we should be looking forward to playing Burnley after the way we’ve been playing,” he said. “We have to be aggressive, be on the front foot, and test them out. Then, if they beat us, they beat us.”

Meanwhile, Stewart Donald has confirmed that his decision to further reduce his shareholding in Sunderland was driven by a desire to become more involved with National League club Eastleigh.

Donald’s stake in Sunderland now stands at nine per cent – below the ten per cent threshold that would have limited his ability to invest heavily in another club – with Kyril Louis-Dreyfus having increased his shareholding to 58 per cent and Juan Sartori now owning 33 per cent.

“It means that under the rules, if there’s a deal to be done, I can go to another club,” said Donald. “It was part of the thinking.

“I had a chat with Kyril and Juan, and they’re really enjoying it. They’ve been great for the club. They’re really enjoying it, and it’s been a gradual thing – Kyril has had a look at it, and we’ve had a couple of conversations. He’s enjoying it more, wants to take more and get more involved, and that works for me.”