Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy is delighted to welcome Julio Arca back.
Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy is delighted to welcome Julio Arca back into the first team fold for the weekend trip to Charlton Athletic.
The Premiership's bottom club are on course for a swift return to the Coca-Cola League but the comeback of their outstanding Argentinian is a boost to McCarthy.
The versatile left-sided star rushed back too early from a foot injury in the Tyne-Wear derby defeat to Newcastle United and has been sorely missed by the struggling Black Cats.
"He's been training all week and I fully expect him to be fit to start the game," explained McCarthy to Sky Sports News.
"We'll see how he gets on. It's lack of training more than anything but his injury is okay.
"Just watching him in training, you can see how much we miss him because he has that ability to keep the ball.
"He's a Premiership player, with Premiership quality, and we miss our better players. Certainly, Julio's one of them and it would be great to have him back."
McCarthy is growing tired of saying the same thing at press conferences every week as his side bid to avoid a ninth successive league defeat.
"We keep saying it," he complained. "We've got to get it [a result], haven't we?
"Every week, I come in and say that we need one victory, one point.
"There's no point talking about it.
"We desperately need that result now. It's not going to be easy going to Charlton but we need a result.
"We can't dress it up at all. We need three points from somewhere - very, very quickly."
