TONY MOWBRAY is adamant Sunderland will not be tempering their positive tactics when they head to Turf Moor to take on runaway Championship leaders Burnley tomorrow.

Vincent Kompany’s table toppers boast a 13-point lead over second-placed Sheffield United, having not suffered a single home defeat in any competition this season, and need just three more victories to be guaranteed a place in the Premier League.

Sunderland currently sit 11th, and will be without a host of senior players because of injury tomorrow, but Mowbray will not be tinkering with his tactics in an attempt to make his side harder to beat.

Instead, he will be adopting his usual formation and instructing his players to take the game to their opponents.

“We will go and be aggressive and positive, and attack the game,” said the Sunderland boss, who has lost Dan Ballard and Jewison Bennette to injury in the last fortnight, but who can at least welcome Lynden Gooch and Dennis Cirkin back into his squad.

“Sometimes, the opposition’s quality can push you back, but we certainly won’t go with a mindset of being defensive.

“We’ll go and take the game to them. As I’ve said in recent weeks, it’s almost like a free hit for us, so let’s go and be positive, play our game, and see how we get on.

"Let’s see if we can get some good movement around them and through them, and see how many chances we can create.”

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While Sunderland might head into tomorrow's game 30 points adrift of their opponents, Mowbray takes solace from some of their recent performances in matches in which they have started as the underdogs.

The Black Cats pushed Premier League high-fliers Fulham close on two occasions in the FA Cup, and claimed a surprise 1-0 win at promotion-hopefuls Norwich City in their most recent away outing.

“The collective structure of the team has generally been good when we’ve played against the top sides,” said Mowbray. “Norwich was a good recent example – we went and did a decent job.

“We played against Fulham twice in the cup and did a decent job on both occasions. We shouldn’t fear anybody really – we should go and have a go, and be positive. That’s what we intend to do.”