KEVIN Phillips is backing himself and strike partner Marcus Stewart to score the goals that will propel Sunderland back up the table.

That is bad news for Wanderers who will come up against the deadly duo on Monday night at the Reebok Stadium.

Former England striker Phillips is still in the process of recovering from a groin operation which has kept him out for six weeks of this season.

He returned last weekend for the home defeat against West Ham, and new boss Howard Wilkinson chose to put him alongside Stewart, who joined the club in August from Ipswich.

Many felt that Wilkinson would opt for a partnership between Phillips and Tore Andre Flo - a pairing that would mimic the 'little and large' combination of Phillips and Niall Quinn which was always such a success.

Stewart is a pacy goal-grabber with a similar style to Phillips, but the 29-year-old is convinced they can work well together.

He knows that the onus is on them to improve matters on Wearside as the Black Cats have scored just four goals in the league this season.

"I don't think we're too similar," says Phillips. "I think we can be a good partnership together.

"Marcus is a good player who is very clever with his movement and in how he uses the ball and he's scored goals in the Premiership, as I have.

"The thing is that we have to try to gel together quickly because in our position in the league we need goals and points.

"We're at the wrong end of the table to be able to give ourselves four or five games to get it right, but I'm confident we can succeed."

Boss Wilkinson looks to have a welcome selection headache at the back as well, as he looks for his first win with his new club.

Sunderland may have struggled to score this season, but have also conceded 14 goals in their ten Premiership games thus far.

However, the former Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday manager has been boosted by the return of central defenders Emerson Thome and Joachim Bjorklund.

Swede Bjorklund, who has been out with a hamstring problem, and his Brazilian counterpart, currently completing his rehabilitation from the latest in a series of knee operations, both played for the reserves in the 3-1 derby win at Middlesbrough on Monday night.

Alongside Jody Craddock and Phil Babb - who began for Wilkinson in his first game in charge, against West Ham last week - Wilkinson can now pick and choose his best combination.

His only major players that are missing are long-term casulaties Jason McAteer and Thomas Sorensen, but Wilkinson is also concerned about the mental attitude of his players after the recent shake-up at the club.

"Obviously when you have a situation like this, there is going to be a lot of emotional debris," he said. "Players are in various states of minds and various emotions.

"Players are just human beings. There have been changes around the place and the grieving is an important process. You can't just walk in and say, 'Right, let's get on with it'.

"But it's time we started to look forward and the message we've tried to hammer home is that they're responsible for going out and trying to earn points.

"You can come up with a million reasons why things have gone wrong, but we can't have a single excuse and that's the message we're trying to get across. The players have to take that responsibility.

"We've started off with a clean slate. We need good players and as far as I'm concerned that is the only criteria, as long as they act professionally and responsibly for the club."