Sunderland unlikely to make major changes to line-up at Luton

Regis Le Bris has hinted that he will resist any temptation to rotate his Sunderland squad at Luton, even if he has total faith in the fringe players.

Regis Le Bris - faith in Sunderland squad / IMAGO / PA Images

Sunderland rotating their squad a little at Luton is ‘an option’ according to Regis Le Bris, although he has appeared to rule out massive changes.

The Black Cats have had a very settle side all season, with Le Bris only really making changes when injuries have forced him to so far.

This week may well test his devotion to that mindset, with Sunderland forced to play three games in just six days – two of them away from home.

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Luton is the middle fixture in that block, with Oxford United the visitors to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

So, will Le Bris make the full use of his squad by introducing some fresh legs at Kenilworth Road?

“We’ll see tomorrow,” he said when asked by reporters. “We have a core, I think.

“And the others are very involved even if they don’t play a lot at the minute. They are very involved and important and the starters feel they are around the team and ready to play. So it’s an option.”

Two players who won’t be involved are Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard. Both players carried injuries into the international break, although they were expected to be fit after it.

However, neither are quite ready to return yet, with Sunderland taking the extra-cautious approach to make sure they are fully prepared when they do return.

“We won’t have either of the two players for the Luton game,” Le Bris explained.

“Eliezer is training. He has trained this week. The Oxford game might come a little bit too soon for him because it was a muscle injury so he needs a bit of time, but he should be available after that.

“For Ballard, it should be next week when he is able to get back up to full speed.”

The good news, though, is that Sunderland did not appear to pick up any fresh injuries in the win at Hull on Sunday.