Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is ready to unleash Connor Wickham this weekend.

The former Ipswich striker will start against Bolton Wanderers.

Bruce said: "It's in my thoughts to put someone else up front alongside Nicklas Bendtner. It could be time for Connor.

"We've got to go to try to take the game to Bolton. They played 4-4-2 against Wigan last Saturday and we'll do the same and go and see if we can win the game.

"There were reasons I didn't play Ji Dong Won or Connor against Arsenal. I thought with Ji coming back from Korea [where he was on international duty], with all the traveling he'd done, it would have been unfair on him.

"Connor hadn't trained for 10 days before taking part on the Thursday and Friday."