Tony Mowbray insists attack is the best form of defence as Sunderland head to Luton looking to seal a place in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. The Black Cats travel to Kenilworth Road tomorrow with a narrow first-leg advantage, having come from behind to win 2-1 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
And with Sunderland's squad ravaged by a catalogue of injuries, it will essentially be a case of all-hands on deck as Mowbray tries to assemble a cohesive team from the players he has available. Sunderland have operated without a proper centre-forward for half the season, while they completed the run-in and went into the play-offs without any specialist centre-backs.
There was some good news on the defensive front with central defender Aji Alese set to be included in the squad, although he is not ready to start after more than two months out, however there are doubts over two of Sunderland's attacking threats with Patrick Roberts and Alex Pritchard both coming off injured in the first leg and rated only 'touch and go' for the second. Mowbray does not have the luxury of being able to set his team up to defend even if he had wanted to, and he says the Wearsiders' best chance of reaching Wembley is to go to Luton and try to win the second leg.
