The selection dilemma facing Sunderland after Tony Mowbray's honest midfield admission

Sunderland are weighing up a midfield dilemma after Tony Mowbray's admission that Pierre Ekwah is still working his way back to full sharpness.

Ekwah started the season in exceptional form but was sidelined for a number of weeks with a dead leg and hematoma. The midfielder has been working to recapture his form since then and was substituted at half time of the 2-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.

“Pierre had been injured for a few weeks and he has to get up to speed,” Mowbray said immediately after the game.

“He doesn’t seem to me that he is up to the speed of the team, the way we are trying to play. He’s a yard off it in my mind, so he came off.”

The switch saw Jobe Bellingham drop back into central midfield with Adil Aouchiche playing as the ten, an option for the visit of Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night.

Mowbray missed the pre-match press conference on Tuesday as he recovers form a chest infection, with assistant Mark Venus discussing Ekwah's recovery in greater detail.

"I think he obviously had a period out of the team where due to his injury it was very difficult for him to condition himself," Venus said.

"I think he just has to keep training hard, do bits of extra training when the week allows him to and use the game-time to get himself where he was.

"He's certainly at the forefront of that position and I think he's taken that responsibility on very well up to his injury. Again, he's a young boy, this is his first experience of first team football. He understands the demands of the role and what it entails and he's working hard.

"When you pick up an injury it's not straight forward that you come back where you left off. Time out of the team and not working the body and keep yourself sharp with training does catch you out. From every experience, Pierre will learn from it. All of the young boys will. Hopefully they learn so the next time it happens they can make the best use of it."

Chris Rigg is also back in the fold following his recent international exploits, providing another midfield option either from the start or the bench.