Régis Le Bris confirms surprise Sunderland selection plan and names the two players who could return in FA Cup

Régis Le Bris has ruled out making wholesale changes to his Sunderland side in the FA Cup third round this weekend, but confirmed that Salis Abdul Samed could make his long-awaited debut at some stage in the game.

Samed has not been able to feature since signing on loan from RC Lens on deadline day due to injury but has been back in full training for around a fortnight now. He seems almost certain to begin on the bench, which Le Bris making clear that there will be no major overhaul for Stoke City's visit to the Stadium of Light.

While Le Bris rotated heavily for a Carabao Cup tie early in the season, he has categorically ruled out doing the same here. Chris Rigg is also in contention to return after recovering from the ankle issue that has ruled him out in recent weeks.

"I think Riggy and Salis will be available for this fixture," Le Bris said.

"The first idea with the team this weekend is to reinforce the dynamic rather than thinking about recovering. We have had a full week before this game and we will have more or less a full week before the next one. So it's not a question of recovery right now. We could have a couple of changes but we will keep the main dynamic around the game because we want to win, it's a knockout game. It's a different mindset but we want to keep our dynamic rather than change everything.

"I have said it before, it is so difficult to build a strong dynamic so you have to keep it and feed it rather than change everything. So it's still useful for one, two or three players who are important for the team and if they can get some game time, it is better for us. But the most important thing is to win the game."

Le Bris confirmed that Dan Ballard is not yet ready to return from injury, but should be available for selection at Burnley next Friday. Ahmed Abdullahi could also be in contention to make the matchday squad for that game.