Black Cats fans have to wait until Monday night to see their team in action again, and when they do, they can expect Regis Le Bris to make some tweaks to his starting XI.
Last time out, Sunderland stumbled in their pursuit of the leading pack in the Championship, dropping points at home to struggling Plymouth Argyle in a 2-2 draw.
For that game, Regis Le Bris made some changes that didn’t quite work, and the Sunderland boss admitted his team were ‘lucky’ to get the point.
Now, the Frenchman has an even bigger challenge with a trip to the Riverside to face Middlesbrough, and he will need to get his tactics and team selection absolutely perfect to get a result there.
Sunderland injury news ahead of North East derby
The good news for Sunderland is that both Ian Poveda and Jenson Seelt are on the road to recovery and recently got minutes under their belts for the Under-21s. It’s highly unlikely either will be in the starting lineup on Monday, but they could push for a place on the bench.
Alan Browne is also getting closer to being ready for a return, but this game will come too early for the midfielder. Tommy Watson and Romaine Mundle are also about two weeks away from their much-anticipated comebacks.
The bad news, however, is that Aji Alese is out for the season now with a broken leg.
Eliezer Mayenda returns for Sunderland in early predicted lineup
The main change Le Bris absolutely has to make for the Middlesbrough game is to reunite Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda. Simply put, the former performs better when Mayenda is with him, and that partnership was sorely missed against Plymouth.
Mayenda — described by Sunderland fans as the club’s new ‘golden boy’ — is a fantastic threat in that striker role, and it would be a big surprise to see him on the bench again, with Le Bris surely reverting to a 4-4-2 formation.
At the back, Chris Mepham could pay for a poor performance against Plymouth by losing his starting spot to Dan Ballard, who is now fully fit and picked up minutes at the weekend.
Meanwhile, in the midfield, Le Bris may well give Chris Rigg a rest and pair Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham in the middle, with Enzo Le Fee continuing to be used on the left. Patrick Roberts should get the nod on the right.