The key first team players Sunderland are hoping to welcome back in time for Championship play-offs

Sunderland could be in a position to welcome back a number of key first team players heading into next month’s Championship play-offs.

The Black Cats have suffered more than their fair share of injury misfortune this term, and still have several high-profile talents sidelined heading into the final two matches of the regular league schedule.

But with a little under three weeks to go before the first leg of the play-off semi-finals, and with around a month until the final itself takes place at Wembley, there appears to be a growing optimism that Regis Le Bris’ squad could be bolstered between now and then.

What is the latest on Sunderland’s injury list?

Speaking on the latest edition of On The Whistle, The Echo’s chief SAFC writer Phil Smith explained: “So the latest is that Dennis Cirkin is touch and go I think for Saturday [against Oxford United], but should definitely be back for the QPR game if not. He should be able to get some minutes before the end of the season. Dan Ballard is someone that's also hopeful he'll be back for the QPR game. So that hopefully means that he'll be able to get some minutes under his belt before the end of the season, which would mean he's fit for the play-offs.

“[Romaine] Mundle, we won't see in the regular season, but should be back to play some part in the play-off semi-finals. Jenson Seelt, not quite sure really in terms of, Le Bris has been confident that he could be around the squad for the play-offs, but I think he's had a little bit of a reaction with that knee after the Coventry game. I don't think there's a major concern and Le Bris has said he'll be available for the play-offs, but I think we might have to be fairly realistic about how likely he is to get minutes.

“Now [Niall] Huggins is exactly the same. He's been back in non-contact training, which is obviously a real positive. He's really stepping up his recovery. There's a chance he could be back in full training and around the group by the time the play-offs come around, but how many minutes he'll be able to play with his match fitness is obviously a completely different question.

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“So hopefully Cirkin and Ballard will be able to play a fairly big part in the play- offs. Mundle at the moment, I think it's too early to tell if he'll be ready to start the play-off semi-finals, certainly a first leg, but he should be back around the group, similar with Seelt.

“And Aji Alese, we're just waiting to see whether he is going to be back in time. Le Bris obviously mentioned a while ago that he was increasingly hopeful that he might be able to play some part in the play-offs, even if it's off the bench. We're just waiting to see how those last stages of recovery go really.

“It's a little bit of a mixed bag really. I think Sunderland will have a lot of players back by the time the play-offs come around. The question is what level of match sharpness and what level of match fitness they have and how realistic it is they'll be able to go straight into the team. So that's something that we'll have to wait and see and keep an eye on over the coming days.”

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