Sunderland injury news: Boss reveals Alex Pritchard blow

Pritchard has suffered a recurrence of the calf problem that kept him out of the last two games, and it was the only negative of an otherwise outstanding night for the Black Cats as they climbed into the play-off positions with a 4-1 win.

The attacking midfield now looks likely to miss the clash with Blackpool on New Year's Day.

"We’re really disappointed over Pritch," Mowbray said.

"We’ll have to assess whether it was right that he went onto the pitch, yet he had trained for a good few days and was really confident, ready and chomping at the bit. That’s a real frustration for us, of course.

"He’s done his calf again. He’s been training for the last four or five days with the team, and maybe a week before that, and has been fine. He was chomping at the bit to come with us this week and get on the pitch, and yet as soon as he pushed off, he felt it. "He’s down in there [dressing room] but he'll be fine."

Sunderland will be bolstered at Bloomfield Road by the return of Corry Evans, who was rested on Thursday night.

Mowbray also retains some hope that his defensive options could yet be boosted ahead of the clash with Michael Appleton's side.

"Corry isn’t really injured, he’s just got a bit of muscle fatigue," he explained.

"He’s done 11,500 metres and broken his own record of distance covered in the last couple of games. He needed a break, and I felt as though we could get through this game without his experience. Thankfully, we did, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be back at the weekend.

"Danny Batth might be joining the party in the next few days, we’ll have to wait and see, Dennis Cirkin might rejoin the party in the next few days. It would help, but

Luke, Danny and Bailey were really good, and Trai Hume deserves a mention because he was really good too."