TONY MOWBRAY has admitted he is set to make “one or two changes” to his Sunderland side for tomorrow night’s trip to Loftus Road to face QPR.

The Black Cats are in the middle of a hectic schedule that features a midweek fixture for three weeks in a row, but to this point, Mowbray’s only changes to his starting side have been enforced by Joe Gelhardt’s unavailability for the FA Cup matches against Fulham.

Gelhardt’s return to the starting line-up was the only change for Saturday’s home win over Reading, but having watched his side grind their way through 90 hard-fought minutes against the Royals, Mowbray is mindful of the need to freshen things up tomorrow evening.

“I think we might look to change a couple of things,” said the Sunderland boss, whose side climbed to seventh position in the table with their weekend win. “You have to be careful, you can’t change your whole team, but I think there’s a few players that while they’re not really underperforming, they’re maybe not quite at the heights they would be if they were only playing one game a week.

“They’re maybe not quite as sharp, quick or alert as they could be. I’ll probably just try to freshen it up a little bit with one or two changes. Let’s wait and see.

“You have to try to trust your squad. In the modern day, it’s called rotation, and you’re just hoping that with your rotation, you don’t weaken the team. That’s why you try to bring squad depth in, although that’s always about the quality within the squad rather than the numbers.

“Hopefully, if we do make one or two changes, the ones that come in continue in the same vein and help the team’s performance.”

Dennis Cirkin did not feature in the squad that saw off Reading as he was following concussion protocols after suffering a head injury while scoring Sunderland’s equaliser at Fulham.

The defender has received a clean bill of health today though, and will be part of the squad that travels to London.

Lynden Gooch and Niall Huggins both remain unavailable though, with neither yet able to train with the first-team squad.

“Dennis is travelling,” confirmed Mowbray. “He’s trained the last few days and feels alright, so is back and available.

“I think it’ll be a few more weeks with Lynden. He’s not on the grass – I haven’t seen him out there even with the physios yet. I would imagine it’ll be a few more weeks for Lynden.

“Niall hasn’t trained with us. He’s an amazing character of a footballer, who is so good and intense at everything he does, and yet his body is sort of letting him down a little bit and keeps breaking down.”