Sunderland have received a positive boost in terms of two returning first teamers, but Salis Abdul Samed has suffered another frustrating setback and Anthony Patterson won't quite be ready for Preston...
RIGG
“Obviously, when we think about a problem in the chest, we can think many, many things about the issue. Fortunately, it wasn't bad and he trained very well this morning, so I'm very pleased for sure. Pleased for him and pleased for the team because he's very important for us. For the balance of the team, it's very interesting on that side with Patrick (Roberts), with Trai (Hume), they are playing so well in that triangle and when you lose an element like that, we need to recreate or rebuild something new. You need time and sometimes it's different with a different output, but it's important for us and I'm happy he will be in the team for Preston.”
BALLARD
“He feels good, and I think when he returned the first time, he struggled because he wasn’t 100 per cent from his feelings about his ankle. Now, he's really good, so it's different and when you struggle with pain, it's still difficult to find the right behaviour on the pitch. We know that we have many players with four yellow cards, so we don't know when it will happen (that players will be missing).”
LADS BACK IN THE TEAM
"We're happy because many players are back in the team and it wasn't the case before, we were on the edge. For example Ballard, for example Eliezer, Aji not for Preston but probably later but he's training now with the team so it's good news and Rigg as well.”
SAMED SETBACK
“I think Salis will need to wait until the beginning of December. It was a re-injury so we need time. There are many games to play.”
PATTO GETTING THERE
“The (injury) report is done every morning, and it was better this morning. Probably for Preston, it will be too short, but we’ll see for Saturday (against Coventry).”
