Bolton boss Owen Coyle is hoping to be able to pick from the same squad that beat Wigan last weekend.
Coyle left out Gretar Steinsson and Fabrice Muamba altogether and picked David Wheater ahead of Zat Knight as Bolton ended a run of six successive league defeats at the DW Stadium, and he may well be tempted to stick with the same line-up.
A couple of players are battling knocks but Coyle is hopeful they will be fit while defender Marcos Alonso returned to training on Friday after eight weeks out with a broken foot.
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is boosted by the return of Phil Bardsley from a four-match ban and Nicklas Bendtner, wo was ineligible to play against parent club Arsenal last weekend.
Titus Bramble is suspended pending police and club investigations, while Craig Gordon and Fraizer Campbell (both knee) continue to work their way back to fitness with the keeper due to return to training at the end of next month and the striker likely to be missing until March.
Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Wheater, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Eagles, Robinson, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov, K Davies, Klasnic, Tuncay, Bogdan, Gardner, M Davies, Pratley, Ngog, Blake, Kakuta, Boyata.
Sunderland (from): Mignolet, Westwood, O'Shea, Brown, Bardsley, Richardson, Turner, Laing, Cattermole, Gardner, Vaughan, Larsson, Colback, Elmohamady, Meyler, Sessegnon, Bendtner, Wickham, Ji, McClean, Cook.
