Luke O'Nien is set to return to the Sunderland squad ahead of this weekend's game against Birmingham City. The defender was left at home on Wearside last weekend as the Black Cats made the long journey to South Wales to take on Cardiff City, with boss Tony Mowbray explaining afterwards that O'Nien's wife Georgia was due to give birth imminently and it was decided that the six-and-a-half hour trip would have left him too far from home.
As yet, there has been no change in the situation but the fact that Sunderland are at home against the Blues means that O'Nien will be part of Mowbray's plans - although the head coach stopped short of confirming that the 27-year-old would make an immediate return to the starting XI after the team kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win at Cardiff. "He trained today, and he's trained for the last few days, so we'll see how he fares and how things roll with that," said Mowbray.
"He'll come in and train tomorrow and we'll assess it. He'll be in the matchday squad unless matchday is the day [his wife gives birth].
