Jewison Bennette will travel to the North-West with Sunderland after sitting out the Boxing Day win against Blackburn Rovers due to a minor foot injury, Tony Mowbray has revealed. The Costa Rica international was a notable absentee when the Black Cats' teamsheet was issued on Monday, with no place for him even on the bench despite having been named amongst the subs the previous week for the game at Hull City.
And Mowbray has explained that Bennette had suffered a kick on his foot which meant he missed several days' training, and that led to the decision to leave him out. Mowbray was also conscious of the fact that Bennette had returned from the World Cup in need of building up his fitness again, making the missed training sessions all the more crucial.
But Bennette is part of the group that will travel across the Pennines ahead of tomorrow's game at Wigan Athletic, and will stay there to prepare for Sunday's New Year's Day game at Blackpool. "Jewison didn't train for three or four days," said Mowbray.
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"He took a kick right on the top of his foot in training and it was sore, he was hobbling, and he couldn't strike the ball. We took a decision to leave him out to get him back fit again.
"He is travelling with us, but he has missed maybe three or four days' training on the back of coming back from the World Cup."
Mowbray has previously said that both Bennette and Sunderland's Australia international Bailey Wright, who also took part in the World Cup, returned to Wearside needing to do some extra work in training with the data supplied to the Black Cats from their national associations showing their physical output had dropped off. Mowbray says that was only natural given the type of preparation needed for tournament football, and that the pair did not play every minute for their national sides.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola recently said that his England midfielder Kalvin Phillips had returned from the tournament overweight, but Mowbray says the circumstances are very different in Bennette and Wright's cases. He said: "I didn't play him [Bennette] in that game [the home defeat against West Brom on December 12], and I didn't play Bailey Wright either, because looking at all their data from when they were over there [in Qatar] and they weren't training every day, they were a bit down on what we would normally do.
"It's to make sure that when you put players on the pitch, they are ready and they are at a level. We all saw Guardiola question Kalvin Phillips the other day, and that's not the case here - it's just a case of when there is a tournament, it is game preparation and training every day.
"Sometimes players who don't play as many minutes can fall through the mesh because it is generally 11 or 12 that you are trying to get ready, and the subs don't generally do as much. There's an understanding that the players who went away to the World Cup and didn't play every minute of every game are probably going to be slightly undercooked, and sometimes it takes a little bit of time."
Wright came on as a sub against Blackburn on Monday and is likely to be involved again at Wigan tomorrow, while Bennette could be included on the bench.
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