Sunderland face the prospect of two games in four days over the Easter weekend. The fact they have a number of players still out injured, therefore, will test the legs of the Mackems squad.
That being said, they have been dealt a timely boost ahead of their matches with Oxford United on Friday and Peterborough next Monday.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon, Lee Johnson revealed that Rangers loanee Jordan Jones will be back in the squad for the Oxford United clash.
Jones has been absent since picking up an injury in the build-up to the Papa John’s Trophy final last month.
The winger has missed the last four matches with a muscle injury but he is now ready to return to the fold in what will be a considerable advantage to their chances of securing promotion.
Sunderland have won three of the games that Jones has missed but he’d just come into form before picking up his fitness issue.
The loanee scored a peach against Crewe before assisting against Rochdale last month. Jones followed that up by scoring a vital goal against Portsmouth. In that match, the winger also registered another assist.
[snack-amp-story url= "https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-sunderland-transfer-rumours-and-news-grigg-denayer-louis-dreyfus-sanderson-melamed" title="Latest Sunderland transfer news and views!"]
With such a huge match to follow against fellow promotion hopefuls Peterborough next week, Johnson should be absolutely delighted that one of his star men is back.
Since penning temporary terms in January, Jones had to wait patiently to get in the side. He only started two of his first seven games but since being brought into the starting XI, the 26-year-old has been game-changing.
He’s been a real livewire on the flanks, completing 1.6 key passes and 0.8 dribbles per game. For context, only Denver Hume and Aiden McGeady have managed more in the first statistic.
It’s evident why Jones’ return to the team over the next few days will be so important for the Black Cats. He has only been here a matter of months but is already vital to their promotion chances.