Sunderland boss David Moyes has insisted his side have missed forward Victor Anichebe’s presence, and he is ready to throw him straight back into the team for their final survival push.

Victor Anichebe in action for Sunderland

Anichebe, who joined Sunderland on a one-year contract in September following his release from West Brom, has been out with a knee injury since January.

The 28-year-old, who has scored three goals for the Black Cats, returned to action as a substitute in Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Leicester and Moyes is pleased to have him back for the visit of Manchester United on today.

“We have missed Victor [Anichebe] because, if you look, we have not scored enough goals this season,” said Moyes.

“We have had as our attacking players Fabio Borini, Adnan Januzaj, Wahbi Khazri, Jermain Defoe and the other was Victor Anichebe, who gave us a completely different type of centre-forward from all the others.

“He was the only one we had different, so if he got injured then we were going to be in trouble. He never got started this season, but when he did come in he made a big impact for us.

“You have got to remember, Victor was a free transfer. There wasn’t another Premier League club took him during the window. We took him and he’s actually come in and when he’s played the games for us he’s done really well.”