Tony Mowbray explains his rare Jobe Bellingham decision and why Sunderland duo were absent

Tony Mowbray says Jobe Bellingham is likely to play a key role against West Brom next weekend after the midfielder was left out of the starting XI for the first time at Millwall.

The Sunderland head coach explained that the decision was purely to protect the 18-year-old from burnout after his unexpectedly demanding start to the campaign,

"Jobe has had 17 starts on the bounce, he's just turned 18," Mowbray said.

"I've spoken to him over the last month, there've been two or three times where we've planned to rest him and we've picked up an injury on the Friday and he's had to play. He's just turned 18 and I feel I have a duty of care to this young guy, an amazing human being who is conscientious and so desperate to do well and learn. Initially we'd have thought he'd come in and make a lot of substitute appearances, the odd start, and yet his performance level has dictated that he plays every week. The last few games I've been bringing him off and I think there have been signs of fatigue there.

"I sat him in my office and explained to him that, the third game this week, that we were going to leave him out of this one. It's just a duty of care to him. And then with the way the game is going and the possession we were having, I felt Dack and Pritchard were the right options.

"I've no fear Jobe will be ready for us for West Brom next week, he's a very important player for us."

Mowbray also said that he expects both Jenson Seelt and Chris Rigg to be available next weekend after the pair were absent from the travelling squad this weekend.

"Jenson is ill, maybe he's caught it off me, I'm not sure," Mowbray said.

"But he had flu-like symptoms so he wasn't able to travel. With Riggy, he picked up a knock in an in-house game that we had. He took a knock to his ankle, it's not a bad one but we didn't think it was worth taking any risk with him. I'm sure he'll be alright for next week."