The player that 41% of Sunderland fans want to see replace injured Tommy Watson & Romaine Mundle on left wing

When Tommy Watson solemnly limped off during Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Bristol City last week, the Black Cats were left facing something of an uncomfortable selection dilemma.

With Romaine Mundle already sidelined, and with no other immediate or obvious options available to Regis Le Bris out on the left wing, it was not overtly clear as to which direction the Frenchman would choose to go in for the foreseeable future.

In the short term, against the Robins, the solution was to shunt Eliezer Mayenda into a less preferred attacking role after the Spaniard had started the game so brightly out on the opposite flank. Le Bris would again opt to start Mayenda in lieu of Watson and Mundle during Sunderland’s stunning 3-2 comeback victory over Swansea City at the weekend.

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But there are other, slightly unorthodox alternatives to Mayenda besides. Adil Aouchiche, frozen out for so long, was afforded a brief cameo against Bristol City during which he produced a vital assist for Patrick Roberts’ stoppage time equaliser; Wilson Isidor has featured in wide areas for the Black Cats too, despite having been at his most effective at the point of attack; Nazariy Rusyn, another relative outcast, was ostensibly signed as a centre forward, but has arguably applied himself better as a winger during his underwhelming time on Wearside.

With that in mind, The Echo asked readers who they would like to see given the shirt during Watson and Mundle’s shared absence, and the response was a fairly decisive one. Of the near-400 respondents, some 41% are of the opinion that Le Bris is making the right call by persisting with Mayenda as Sunderland’s makeshift left winger.

Elsewhere, 27% have seen enough from Aouchiche to suggest that he should be the Black Cats’ go-to man for the time being, while 23% would be happy to see Isidor return to a wider berth for a short while. Just 9% believe that Rusyn is deserving of a chance to prove himself with a regular first team spot.

At the time of writing, it is expected that Watson will be out of action for around two months, while the hope is that Mundle will be back in contention for minutes in early January.