Thursday 4 December 2014 14:09, UK
Sunderland should have Wes Brown and Adam Johnson back for Saturday's game at Liverpool.
Both players were missing for Wednesday's 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, a result which ended Sunderland's four-match unbeaten run, but Gus Poyet is hopeful both will be in the squad for the trip to Anfield.
Brown's availability would compensate for the loss of Uruguay centre-half Sebastian Coates, who is ineligible under the terms of his loan from Liverpool.
Poyet told the club website: "Wes didn’t train for two days. and of course we have the situation where Sebastian cannot play on Saturday, so it was better not to risk him to make sure he is 100 per cent for Saturday.
"It was an easy decision in the end but for Seb it was a tough game to play, especially against the quality of Sergio Aguero and the quality of form that he is in at the moment.
“Adam had a problem with his quads at the end of the (Chelsea) game on Saturday and he didn’t train for one minute with us, so there was no chance. I think we have a great chance to recover him for Saturday, but let’s see."
