Ross Stewart made his first start since August as Tony Mowbray made four changes to his Sunderland side to face Blackburn Rovers at the Stadium of Light. Stewart came off the bench to score against Hull City last weekend in his comeback game after a lengthy absence with a thigh injury.
And after playing half-an-hour against the Tigers, the Scotland international striker was passed fit to start against Rovers and he replaced Ellis Simms, who dropped to the bench. Centre-back Dan Ballard also made his comeback from the bench against Hull, in his case from a fractured foot suffered in August, and he started against Blackburn in place of the injured Danny Batth - the man he had replaced as an early sub at the MKM Stadium.
Patrick Roberts returned to the side in place of Elliot Embleton, who broke his ankle and was also sent off at Hull. And the fourth change saw Dennis Cirkin come in at left-back to take the place of Aji Alese, who was absent from the squad presumably through injury.
