John O’Shea and Lamine Kone are fit to face Watford this weekend, but David Moyes kept his cards close to his chest when asked about the potential inclusion of Lee Cattermole.
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O’Shea required stiches after being on the receiving end of a poor challenge from Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, with Kone missing Sunderland’s last outing against Burnley due to a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Cattermole has returned to first-team training following hip surgery, with the midfielder last featuring against Crystal Palace in September.
But Moyes insists he won’t rush the 29-year-old back into action following such a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“I’m not sure if Lee Cattermole will be in the squad,” said the Sunderland boss.
“He’s coming along nicely but he’s missed the whole season and we’re nearly in April, so we have to make sure he’s right.”
He continued: “He’s an important member of the squad and we’ve missed him, but he’s not too far away.
“Victor [Anichebe] is getting closer as well; he’s been in America working with a couple of people we know and he’s come back and started some training.
“John O’Shea obviously took a fair rattle in his game but we think he’s okay – he did bit of training yesterday – and Bryan Ovidedo and Seb Larsson have returned fine.
“Lamine [Kone] has trained this week and he was training again quite early, so it wasn’t anything too serious and the Burnley game just came a day or two too quickly."