Tony Mowbray issues brief Danny Batth update and explains his Sunderland substitutions

Danny Batth will start for Sunderland against Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night with Tony Mowbray saying there have been no developments over his long-term future.

Batth has been linked with a summer move to Blackburn Rovers and it's a deal that could still go through before the end of the summer. There were reports that Batth was set to be left out of the squad for Sunday's season opener against Ipswich Town, but last season's player of the year was on the bench.

Mowbray had signaled his intention to start the season with Dan Ballard and Luke O'Nien in defence against Real Mallorca last Saturday, but Batth will get a chance to stake his claim alongside a number of other players in midweek.

"No change with Danny," Mowbray said.

"He'll play on Tuesday night, so we'll just wait and see. We'll see how it goes, whether the phone rings. We're going with Dan and Luke at the moment and I think they look fine, it's just competition really."

Mowbray also confirmed that his decision to withdraw Jobe Bellingham and Hemir in the second half was due to fatigue, and says he will manage the game time of his young players carefully in the weeks ahead.

"I think it'd wrong just to keep pushing them through, they'll get injured," Mowbray said.

"Jobe has started a few games for Birmingham City, so it's not as if he's got 50 games under his belt.

"He's a young boy so we have to be careful, and it's the same with Hemir. He can't believe the amount of running he has to do, the pressing from the front and the athleticism. You have to close down as well as score goals and he's finding that an adjustment process. It's really different to what he's used and that's part of it, they'll get used to it.

"They are young players here to grow and develop. There is no pressure from me on them, there'll be times where we take them out of the team. Bradley Dack is showing us how good he is on the training pitch, and players like Jobe will learn off Bradley.

"There's no rush with Jobe, we just felt his legs and energy would help us today. He's doing great and let's see how he develops."