Eddie Howe's team news update: Tonali latest ahead of Tyne-Wear derby
Eddie Howe's team news update: Tonali latest ahead of Tyne-Wear derby Sunderland visit St. James' Park (kick-off 12pm GMT) four days on from the Magpies' Champions League exit in Barcelona at the round of 16 stage, with Tonali having started at the Spotify Camp Nou after recovering from illness. The Italian midfielder was withdrawn ten minutes into the second half in Catalonia, though, and is now a doubt for the hotly-anticipated derby clash on Tyneside.
Head coach Howe says he will give the 25-year-old every chance to prove his fitness before the game against Régis Le Bris' men, while Lewis Miley and Bruno Guimarães remain further away from a return. Here are some of the main talking points from Friday morning's pre-match media briefing: On injury issues in the United squad... "We will wait and see (on Tonali).
It is maybe not as bad as first feared as he was coming off the pitch. "We will see how he is today and then make a decision closer to the game. "(Miley) will be after the internationals, hopefully after the break.
Fingers crossed it will be the same with Bruno and also for Fab (Schär). " On mental preparation for the derby... "We have a bit of work to do, psychologically, with the players off the back of what was a really strange game to digest and review.
"I think the players will hopefully have learned from a lot of similar games this season, in the respect of we've had a crazy group of games where we've had to leave one game very quickly and focus on the next. That's a skill, I think, to be able to park it and move onto the next one. "We have to do that really quickly and effectively because the game will be on us before we know it.