And in a further boost for the Black Cats, Romaine Mundle is set to resume training on Sunday and is expected to be available for the play-off semi-final first leg next Friday.
After rotating his squad in recent weeks, Regis Le Bris expects to have everyone available for the play-offs and the head coach says the Black Cats are in a “really good place”.
Mundle has missed the last six games with a hamstring injury. The winger won’t be in the squad against QPR but will join in with training the following day.
Ballard has also been sidelined with a hamstring problem and has missed the last 11 games. But the defender has impressed in training and will be on the bench on Saturday.
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Le Bris said: “Dan will be in the squad tomorrow.
“Romaine won’t be available this weekend. We don’t want to rush the process, but he will train with us from Sunday, so we should have a full squad available for the play-offs, so it’s good news for us.
“It depends on the game against QPR of course, because we still have this 90 minutes to play.
“We decided to rotate the squad in recent weeks, to give minutes and experiences for some players, to refresh and to avoid rushing some processes as well for others.
“We should be in a really good place with this idea, because I think playing these games with the level required we need a full squad available and it should be the case.
“We have many options. Different options are available and it’s good for the squad, because we don’t know the scenario the opponent will have and it’s better if we have many options available, which should be the case.”
Niall Huggins has also been back in training with Sunderland but Le Bris will continue to be cautious with the full-back after his 16-month absence.
Le Bris said: “It’s still early, because I think he missed more or less 12 months, so it’s really massive.
“He trained really well in Portugal, so I was happy for him.
“I think because of the intensity it’s still difficult to maintain the level after so long out.
“He showed in Portugal he can reach a high level, now the question is consistency. You need experiences, you need time, you need to play games, and that’s not been the case for a while for Niall.”
