Swansea were one of the sides competing for a top-six place in the latter stages of last season, with a late surge propelling them up the table. But a draw in their penultimate game meant they were out of the running on the final day as Sunderland clinched a play-off spot instead.

Over the summer the Swans lost manager Russell Martin when he left to take charge at Southampton, while key players including 19-goal leading scorer Joel Piroe also departed. They struggled at the start of the current campaign under new boss Michael Duff, picking up just three points from their first seven games but since then they have won five of their last seven matches and go into tomorrow’s game in 13th place, four points and five places behind the Black Cats.

• READ MORE: Tony Mowbray on Mason Burstow’s reaction to being left out of Sunderland’s win against Norwich City
• READ MORE: Sunderland are giving teen star Jobe Bellingham extra time off to reduce risk of burnout

Swansea have had to bed in some of the loan players they brought in over the summer – five of the XI that started last weekend’s win against Blackburn Rovers were loanees – but they are showing signs that they are beginning to click. “I don’t know how they run their club, but it seems to me that they have a philosophy so the players that they’ve signed on loan will be technically good footballers,” said Mowbray.

“Charlie Patino who they have brought in on loan from Arsenal, who was at Blackpool last season, is a technically gifted footballer. Of the players they had already, Jamie Paterson is a good player, Matt Grimes is good and he has been there a long time and plays as a pivot for them in midfield.

“They have lost some players, so whether they are as strong as they have been in recent years is debatable, but I’ve watched them and they are capable of scoring goals, they build from the back, and they play through the lines and get a lot of men in the attacking third, and they are a real threat from set-plays. It’s another tough game but it’s one where we have to go and be aggressive, play our game, get on the front foot, and ask questions of them.”

Sunderland’s 3-1 win against Norwich ended a three-game losing streak for Mowbray’s men, and they are now just a point outside the play-off spots and three points behind third-placed Leeds United.