Kompany, Zabaleta and Fernando All Could Feature Boxing Day

Manager Manuel Pellegrini gave the following update on the Blues squad and the availability of players."The injury situation is better - we'll have the complete squad recovered apart from Samir Nasri.

"Pablo Zabaleta, Fernando and Vincent Kompany have all worked with the squad normally.

"You are always missing good players - he's the captain here and if he doesn't play it's an important player we don't have in our squad.

"One of the most important things of this team is to be in the all competitions, not just depending on one player.

"We'll see the starting XI on Saturday - after that, especially with David, with Kun, with Vincent, with Pablo - we have to see how they recover between games. I have not decided my team yet."

Sunderland have not played well in recent weeks after an initial boost after Sam Allardyce took over as Manager. However, the Blues face table-topping Leicester City and in-form Watford to close out the festive period of league games, meaning the return of Kompany, Zabaleta and Fernando could not have come at a better time.