Dan Ballard and Eliezer Mayenda were surprisingly left out of the Sunderland side that faced Watford.
Sunderland headed down to Vicarage Road on Saturday for what promised to be a potential banana skin against Watford.
The Black Cats sat in 2nd place of the Championship table going into this weekend, whereas Watford started in 8th.
But it was the home side who eventually won the game. Sunderland conceded either side of half-time, with Wilson Isidor on the score-sheet in his first league start for the club.
Sunderland fans have been critical of Dan Neil who gave away the penalty late on which led to Watford’s equaliser.
He was perhaps the poorest individual performance in what was an overall lacklustre performance from Regis Le Bris’ men, who now sit in 3rd place of the table after Blackburn Rovers beat QPR.
Up next for Sunderland is a game vs Derby County at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night.
Injury updates on Dan Ballard and Eliezer Mayenda ahead of Derby County
Both Dan Ballard and Eliezer Mayenda were left out of the matchday squad at Watford, with it soon coming to light that both had injuries.
Ballard has recently been sidelined with an ankle injury but was back on the bench for the last outing v Middlesbrough; a game which Mayenda started.
Both are key players for Le Bris, and both could yet make a swift return to action for the Frenchman, who’s hopeful that both could even make their returns as soon as Tuesday night.
Journalist Phil Smith posted on X:
Wilson Isidor has shown that he can lead the line for Sunderland
Mayenda has been a bit of a revelation this season, albeit having not scored since the 4-0 win vs Sheffield Wednesday last month.
Against Watford though, Isidor had a decent game, taking his goal well as he got his Sunderland account off the ground.
He’s a big and strong forward who’s also very pacy, making him ideal to lead the line in this 4-2-3-1 set up under Le Bris.
Meanwhile, Chris Mepham was praised v Middlesbrough and so he can be a viable replacement for Ballard as long as he’s not available.
But Ballard and Mayenda remain quality players, Ballard especially, and not having them takes away from the strong first-team squad depth that Le Bris and Sunderland boast this season.