Scott Brown will play against Sunderland today and if he emerges unscathed from the match against the Premiership side then he will fly to Moscow next week and there is every chance that the manager will use the dynamic midfielder in the return leg of the Champions League qualifier against Dinamo. Brown has not played since having an ankle operation in June and he missed out on early pre-season training but a fit Scott Brown would be the manager's preferred starter alongside new signing Landry N'Guemo in the centre of midfield. 
"Scott will play against Sunderland." said the Celtic manager. "If he comes through that OK, which I suspect he will, he'll travel to Moscow. We'll see how he gets on against Sunderland but it's very hard to leave a fit and raring to go Scott Brown out."
Mowbray, looking back on Wednesday's defeat against Dinamo Moscow, conceded that sorting out his midfield is a work in progress but he insisted that Brown could solve a lot of the problems in that area. "Tactically there were a few things we could have done better," he said."Maybe one of them was there was no real need for two screening midfield players. One of them should have broken into the box more. Scott would naturally do that and have the legs and energy to get back."
Barry Robson has impressed the manager with his commitment and effort in training but in his keenness to prove his fitness it seems that he has suffered a setback and will miss the next couple of matches at least. The Scottish international midfielder has been on the injured list since the end of last season with a groin injury and he is upset by this latest hindrance but the manager does not want to take any undue risks with the player.
"Brown is available for Saturday, Robson isn't." said the Celtic boss. "He's trained in the last few days and it's been a bit of an eye-opener to see how totally committed he is. He crashes into tackles, kicking goalposts when his team concedes a goal. But I'd suggest he's slightly overdone it. We are erring on the side of caution."