SUNDERLAND have used 25 different players in the Premier League this season; only four of them have scored. For all that might be wrong at the Stadium of Light at the moment, both on and off the pitch, that statistic, more than any other, underlines why the club find themselves in the relegation zone with 17 games to go.

No top-flight side has had fewer league scorers than the Black Cats, and their record is even more troubling when you consider that one of their four scorers, Fabio Borini, has only scored one goal. Take away Jermain Defoe’s 12 league goals, and you’re left with Patrick van Aanholt and Victor Anichebe sharing six goals between them.

No side can survive with such a restricted attacking threat, and as he prepares to take his team to an in-form West Brom this afternoon, David Moyes accepts he has to find a way of ensuring more of his players find themselves in goalscoring positions.

He needs more of a threat from Borini, and could also do with Adnan Januzaj breaking his Premier League duck in a Sunderland shirt. Having conceded he will not be making transformative signings before the closure of the transfer window, he will have to eke more out of what he already has.

“We’ve not had enough people scoring,” admitted Motes. “Not enough midfield players chipping in, not enough goals, not enough crosses into the box for different people to make it into the area. There’s a wide array of reasons for it, and I’ve looked at it and tried to find ways of making it better.

“I’m quite tough on Adnan, but I think he could do more. I think he’s played better in some of the games recently, and I think he’s tried to do a bit more of a lead role up front for us, taking the ball in, holding it up and trying to link us up a bit more.

“He’s got individual ability, but at the moment I’ve not seen him really hit the form which I’d love him to have done. But I do think he’s played relatively well in the last few weeks. I think there have been signs that he’s getting a bit more like it.”

Sunderland’s attacking threat will be enhanced once Victor Anichebe returns to full fitness, and the striker is set to be on the substitutes’ bench as he returns to his former stamping ground at the Hawthorns this afternoon.

Anichebe took part in training yesterday, but having been sidelined since damaging his hamstring in the New Year’s Eve defeat at Burnley, the striker is unlikely to be risked in the starting line-up.

With Sunderland having no game next weekend because of their exit from the FA Cup, the 28-year-old should be back up to full speed ahead of the midweek home game with Tottenham, and while he only arrived as a free agent in the summer, he is already a key member of Moyes’ preferred attacking line-up.

“We’ve been without Victor for a while, and both he and Jordan (Pickford) had played a really big part in the way we played three or four weeks ago,” said the Scotsman. “They played a big part in it, and we’re without them both at the moment.

“Sometimes, it can act as an extra incentive when you go back to your former club, and if I could get Victor back, it would be a big plus. He gives us another way of getting up the pitch, which in many of the games recently, we’ve struggled with.”

Anichebe is not the only player on the brink of a return to action, as Steven Pienaar has also been running this week as he approaches full fitness. Jack Rodwell also has a chance of making today’s squad, despite having damaged his medial ligaments last weekend.

Javier Manquillo is unavailable after injuring his calf in the midweek FA Cup defeat at Burnley, and Moyes will be taking his side to a West Brom team that are currently sitting in eighth position in the table.

The Baggies have won six of their last 12 league matches, and while Tony Pulis might not have been the most popular appointment when he took over at the Hawthorns, Moyes was always confident the former Stoke and Crystal Palace boss would succeed.

“I don’t think there was ever any doubt because Tony has done a good job wherever he has gone,” he said. “Given time, he always puts together a good team, and he has done. You can see them beginning to build again, and sometimes it takes a bit of a while for people to appreciate how well he has done.”