The Sunderland head coach has made one change to his starting XI
Régis Le Bris has handed his Nilson Angulo his full debut for Sunderland AFC.
Angulo is the only change to the side that lost 3-0 at Arsenal on Saturday afternoon, and comes into the starting XI ahead of Chemsdine Talbi. Talbi is named on the bench. It means that Trai Hume will continue in his hybrid role on the right flank, and that Noah Sadiki continues at the base of midfield. Sadiki had been brought off as a precaution in the second half of the Arsenal defeat, but is fit to feature from the start.
Le Bris hinted in his pre-match press conference that he was ready to start Angulo.
“He's ready to play,” Le Bris said.
“He's played a lot of football this year at a good level. He's ready. He has good experience in European football. He's played as a winger and a wing-back. He's really involved and versatile in offensive and defensive tasks. That's good for us.
After that, Sunderland is built like that. We are ready to give opportunities to players even if they are not supposed to be ready, it's our philosophy. At the minute he's in a good place.”
Sunderland XI: Roefs; Mukiele; Ballard, Alderete, Reinildo; Sadiki, Le Fee, Diarra; Hume, Talbi, Brobbey
Subs: Ellborg, Mayenda, Isidor, Geertruida, Mundle, Cirkin, O’Nien, Rigg, Angulo
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Arne Slot, meanwhile, has opted for Wataru Endo ahead of Curtis Jones to replace the suspended Dominik Szoboszlai at right back. Joe Gomez is fit to return to the sqyad, but is named only on the bench.
Régis Le Bris on Granit Xhaka and Bertrand Traore injury latest
Le Bris confirmed ahead of this game that Xhaka and Traore were facing at least another fortnight on the sidelines.
“Almost three weeks, something like that,” Le Bris said.
‘So it's always symptom-driven, but they are both in a good place. So hopefully we'll have good news in a few weeks.he suffered an important knee injury and played with his national team in the second half, I think. I don't remember the opponent. And when he came back here in Sunderland, the diagnosis was that you need to rest and you need to take care of your knee if you want to have a stable knee for the end of the season and for his career as well. So we didn't rush the process and we took care of him just to make sure that he's ready to play.”
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