Sunderland have a home tie against Norwich City to deal with at the weekend, and Regis Le Bris has some big selection decisions to make for the game.
Last time out, Sunderland stunned Swansea City by coming back from two goals down to win 3-2 at the Liberty Stadium and keep up the pressure at the top of the Championship table.
Sunderland showed they have what it takes to grind out results on Saturday, but they’ll have another tough test when the Canaries head to the Stadium of Light this weekend.
So, who will make Regis Le Bris’ starting XI for this crunch game? We’ve had a look at all those available and picked out a predicted lineup.
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Early Sunderland injury news ahead of Norwich City clash
There were no fresh injury concerns after the Swansea game, so it’s much of the same when it comes to absentees in the Sunderland squad.
Tommy Watson will be out for around two months with his ankle/knee injury, while Romaine Mundle will be missing until the New Year.
Alan Browne, Jenson Seelt, Niall Huggins, Abdoullah Ba, Ian Poveda, and Ahmed Abdullahi are all a way off their own returns, too.
Meanwhile, Salis Abdul Samed should star training within a week, but the Norwich game will come too soon for the Ghanaian.
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Regis Le Bris to go unchanged after Swansea win, Luke O’Nien misses out
While players like Luke O’Nien and Adil Aouchiche are knocking on the door for a starting spot against Norwich, we believe Le Bris will go unchanged for the upcoming fixture.
That means Dan Ballard will be rewarded for his goal at the weekend with another start, while Trai Hume and Dennis Cirkin will occupy the full-back spots, leaving no room for O’Nien.
Le Bris is ‘very lucky’ to have so many options at the back, and the competition for places can only be a good thing for the team going forward.
We can’t envisage any changes in the attack or midfield for Sunderland, either. Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham were the stars of the show on Saturday, while Chris Rigg played a big part in the win.
If the Black Cats had more options up front, we could have seen someone else leading the line, but Wilson Isidor put in a great shift against Swansea, and Aaron Connolly is unlikely to be given a chance anytime soon.
Sunderland vs Norwich is scheduled for a 3pm kick-off on Saturday, December 21, 2024.