The Sunderland head coach has taken several youth players to Norwich City with the first-team

Sunderland under-21s are returned to action on Monday night in the Premier League 2 against Tottenham at Eppleton CW - with some notable absences,

Sunderland came into the game hoping they could take another step towards securing a spot in next season’s Premier League International Cup. A top-16 finish would also guarantee qualification for the end-of-season play-offs. The Black Cats were 12th coming into the game. Graeme Murty’s men have just one game of the regular campaign left away to Aston Villa on Friday.

Lead coach Murty named a very youthful looking under-21s side which included eight under-18 scholars, with the likes of Joe Anderson, Tom Lavery, Harrison Jones, Ben Middlemas and Oli Bainbridge all with Régis Le Bris first-team for the clash against Norwich City in the Championship on Tuesday night at Carrow Road.

Le Bris says Sunderland are still waiting to determine the extent of Romaine Mundle’s injury but admitted there is a chance he might not play again this season.

Mundle suffered a hamstring injury during the 1-0 win over West Brom, the same hamstring he injured earlier in the season. Sunderland are seeking further opinions on the severity of the current injury but it is clear that they are preparing to be without the 21-year-old for a period of time.

“Romaine has a hamstring injury but we don’t know yet the timeline,” Le Bris said. “We need to seek some further advice from some specialists and so we will have to wait a little bit. It’s possible (his season could be over), we’ll have to make a decision about the situation. It’s not up to us really, we need to specific advice before we can make a specific decision.”

While Enzo Le Fee paused well on the left during Mundle’s previous injury, Le Bris made clear in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Norwich City that he would not rush him back after so long on the sidelines with an injury of his own.

“First of all, we have to protect Enzo,” Le Bris said. “He needs to gradually improve his shape and connection with the team without being rushed. This is the first idea for us. The second is that we still have six games left in the league, so we have many chances to try different options.”

That means Eliezer Mayenda and Tommy Watson are the most likely candidates to come into the starting XI at Norwich City.

What Le Bris said about bringing Eliezer Mayenda on at West Brom

Le Bris has made clear that Tommy Watson will remain in contention for selection but explained after the 1-0 win over West Brom why he opted to bring Eliezer Mayenda on instead of the Brighton-bound winger.

"Bringing Eli on was nothing to do with Tommy and the move to Brighton,” Le Bris said.

“I think Eli can probably be disappointed not to be in the starting XI because I think he deserves to be in the team. At the same time, it's not always possible because of the competition. He is the player who I think is most ready. He can play in different positions and is more mature, so I think this question was quite easy for me to solve. He can play off the left, off the right, as a striker or as a second striker even. He's a versatile player who works very well with the team. This was the obvious decision for me. He didn't play a lot of minutes of last season but now you can feel he is getting better because of his experiences. It's very positive for him and for us."

Your next Sunderland read: What Luke O'Nien told Tony Mowbray after Sunderland win as West Brom boss makes play-off point