TONY MOWBRAY insists there has been “no change” in Danny Batth’s situation at Sunderland – with the centre-half set to start tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup first-round game against Crewe Alexandra.

Batth’s future has been the subject of mounting speculation all summer, with the centre-half, who was an unused substitute in yesterday's 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town, having lost his place in the Black Cats’ starting side.

There were suggestions over the weekend that Blackburn Rovers were on the brink of sealing a deal for the 32-year-old, but Mowbray claims that is not the case.

Blackburn are understood to retain a strong interest in securing Batth’s services, but Mowbray maintains that nothing has changed in the last few days.

As a result, the defender, who entered the final year of his current contract earlier this summer, is set to be part of the starting line-up that lines up against Crewe at the Stadium of Light tomorrow.

READ MORE:

Mowbray said: “There’s been no change with Danny. He’ll be playing on Tuesday night. Let’s wait and see what happens from there.

“Let’s see if the phone rings and how it goes, really. At this moment, we’re going with (Dan) Ballard and (Luke) O’Nien, and I think they look fine. It’s just competition, really.”

Mowbray is set to name an entirely different starting XI tomorrow night from the team that kicked off against Ipswich in yesterday’s opening Championship game.

Bradley Dack has been pencilled in for a first appearance following his arrival as a free agent last month, while the likes of Alex Pritchard, Chris Rigg, Lynden Gooch and Abdoullah Ba could also join Batth in the starting side.