RLB ON MUNDLE/REINILDO

Regis Le Bris has revealed that Romaine Mundle is close to making his Sunderland return after a lengthy hamstring injury, with the winger hoping to be back in contention after November's international break - which would be handy, given AFCON takes place in December. Le Bris also hinted that Reinildo could come straight back into the starting 11 against Chelsea after serving his three-match suspension.

MUNDLE 'COUPLE OF WEEKS'

“Any player wants to be in the squad and the injury in Portugal was really disappointing for him because he worked really hard in the summer to be at his best level. He is really close, now. He had his last appointment with the specialist about his injury and he was given the green light. So he should be connected with the squad within a couple of weeks."

DON'T RUSH IT

“It's really important [to be careful] and avoid a reinjury but this is what the surgery was designed for. Conservative treatment was an option but because he had a second injury, the staff decided it was the best option to go for surgery. The feedback from that surgery was really positive, so he should be stronger. So now it is just a question of confidence and he will need maybe two weeks to be 100%.”

SADIKI IS FIT

"He recovered really quickly. I was a bit worried after the game against Wolves but he has trained fully this week. He is young, flexible, and ready to play.”

ALDERETE MISSING

“The only one [injury concern] is Omar - he is under concussions protocols. He is having daily assessments - we’ll keep monitoring him. We will see if he can make Everton.”

REINILDO IS BACK

“We’ll see [whether he starts]. Rei is a really important player. He started the season playing well. He made this mistake and apologised and worked well after. He's lifted the standards of the training sessions, played two games with his national team so he's ready to go and will be really important for us.”

DEFENSIVE OPTIONS

“It’s important to build consistency, especially in this league. If you are solid and don’t concede many goals I think it’s better to build confidence and be competitive. We defined early the profiles we needed. The alignment was good, from the owner to the recruitment staff.”