Sunderland's interim boss issues exciting injury update with FOUR nearing return

Mike Dodds says he is nearing full fitness in his Sunderland squad, with Jay Matete and Timothée Pembélé set to make their returns in the U21 side on Monday night.

While not expected to feature in that game against Arsenal at Eppleton, Dodds also revealed that Aji Alese and Dennis Cirkin are both back training after their respective thigh and hamstring injuries. Dodds says there is no pressure on any of them to return swiftly but is encouraged by their progress.

Should that quartet return without any issue then it will leave Corry Evans and Elliot Embleton as the club's only long-term absentees, with the pair expected to be absent until sometime in the new year.

"Jay is pretty much in full-time training," Dodds said.

"He's going to get some minutes for the U21s on Monday, I think. That'll be a really welcome addition for us in terms of competition and depth. Yeah, he's not a million miles away. Timothée has trained this week as well so I think he's in line for some minutes on Monday. Touch wood, we're in a good spot with injuries. Dennis Cirkin and Aji Alese are both training so in terms of that, we're in a really positive spot.

"Aji obviously hasn't played a lot of football so it'll have to be a case of integrating him slowly, and the same with Dennis really. With all of these lads, it's a case of just seeing how they react and if they react favourably, you can quicken the process up. If they don't, you have to adapt. So there's no absolute timeframe with any of them, but the positive is they're training. Some them will get minutes on Monday and some, it might well be the week after."

Dodds also confirmed that he expected Jenson Seelt to be in contention to take his place in the squad against Bristol City this Saturday. Seelt came off with a minor hamstring issue after impressing in the 1-0 win over Leeds United.

"With Jenson, he didn't train on Thursday but that was more precautionary," Dodds said.

"We're expecting him to train tomorrow, we've certainly not got any major concerns there."