Why picking the Sunderland bench could be as difficult for Alex Neil as his starting XI at Wembley

The Sunderland boss has had some unexpected boosts behind the scenes since the semi final win over Sheffield Wednesday, with Carl Winchester returning to training following a groin injury.

Aiden McGeady and Leon Dajaku are also back in contention after injury and ilness issues respectively, but face a battle to force their way into the matchday squad.

"It can be as difficult to pick your bench, yeah," Neil said.

"The bench is a different kettle of fish, because it's about getting players who can give you variation [from the starting XI] if I need to change things.

"So you can have a situation where someone is very, very close to making the starting XI but they're then not right for the bench if that makes sense, because they're not going to be the player to change it.

"It can be hard to explain that to a player, 'you were close to starting but you're not involved'.

"The bench is about making sure you have all your bases covered, and that you've got the options to alter [the flow of] the game."

Nathan Broadhead's availability gives Neil a big dilemma over his starting XI, which he says is almost settled.

"There's always a couple of dilemmas but nine times out of ten I've made my decision [at this point]," Neil said.

"It's just about ticking a couple of boxes in terms of going through things in my head that you might be questioning in terms of how the game might go."