Declan John set for comeback against former club Sunderland

Wanderers will have Sunderland old boy Declan John available for this weekend’s trip to the Stadium of Light.

The full-back has been out of commission for the last four games because of illness but Ian Evatt has confirmed he is now in the reckoning for Saturday.

John spent a few months on loan with the Black Cats on loan from Swansea City at the start of 2020 but did not play a single game under ex-Bolton boss Phil Parkinson.

Harry Brockbank (hamstring), Amadou Bakayoko (calf), Xav Amaechi (foot), Andy Tutte (hamstring) and Liam Edwards (knee) are unavailable for the Whites.

“Declan is back training fully - he has come through training fine. Harry is back training again too,” Evatt told the local press.

“Baka’s edging closer. He’s come through a week of pitch work so won’t be too much longer either, so things are looking positive. Only Andrew Tutte who is due to have surgery on Saturday morning.” Despite being happy with the way his side performed against Rotherham, Evatt says he is considering changes to the line-up.

“I’m always contemplating changing a team because I think we’ve got a very good squad,” he said. “Last Saturday after the game, I felt no differently watching back on Sunday.

“I thought we completely dominated the game. We conceded two poor set pieces and then second half failed to break down Rotherham. I think if we’d had scored first half, which we deserved to do, the game would have been a lot different but performance levels was very good.”

Wanderers find themselves in the unfamiliar position of underdog as they head to Wearside but Evatt believes there is plenty enough confidence in the camp to look past his opponents’ top-billing “I wouldn’t say it’s a role reversal, it certainly feels a lot better than going to Southend away or somewhere like that,” he said.

“That’s the whole reason we got promoted is to have games like this and I don’t think we’ve got that kind of mentality. We’re going there as equals and we feel we’re equals.

“We have to have that mindset and mentality. Obviously we know it’s a difficult place to go and a very big club with a great fanbase but we’re exactly the same as that.

“I think you know me well enough now to know we don’t go anywhere to draw and we’ll give it our best shot.”

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I think we need John back tomorrow. Gordon has been ok but John is better defensively for me.