Regis Le Bris will miss a large handful of key players when Sunderland face a tough Millwall side at The Den after the international break.
Romaine Mundle and Alan Browne both sustained serious-looking injuries in the same passage of play in Sunderland's 2-2 draw with Coventry, and RLB says it is too early to say whether they will be able to play against Millwall.
Trai Hume's suspension means, with a significant lack of fullback depth in the squad, Luke O'Nien may be moved out to right-back after excelling all season at centre half. Dan Ballard came on as a late substitute against Coventry which will have been a major boost for Le Bris, plus Aji Alese is expected to return to the squad.
As well as Hume, Patrick Roberts picked up his fifth yellow card of the season at the weekend and will miss one game. With Wilson Isidor clearly much more effective up front rather than out wide, and Mundle likely to be missing on the other wing, supporters have been in debate over who should start on the flanks. RLB clearly doesn't fancy Abdoullah Ba, but with so few options he may be tempted to bring the Frenchman back into the fold. Tommy Watson made his full debut on the right wing against Preston, but could be more effective in his natural role on the left hand side, where he can cut in and shoot.
Jobe Bellingham still has one game to serve from his three-match suspension and with Browne limping off against Coventry, midfield options are very light. Salis Abdul Samed is still injured and won't be back for a little while. When Browne was subbed off, RLB opted to bring Dan Ballard on and switch to a back five instead of midfielder Milan Aleksic, which suggests the Serbian isn't quite ready for the English Championship. However, he might have to be thrown into the deep end against the Lions due to a lack of options - unless Le Bris wants to give Adil Aouchiche one last chance after leaving him stranded in the under-21s all season.
TOO EARLY FOR MUNDLE/BROWNE
"With Romaine and Alan it is too early, we will have to assess them this week and see."
DEFENSIVE REINFORCEMENTS
"I think that Aji will probably be fit at the end of this international break, and of course if Dan Ballard gets some minutes with the international team then that should be good for us. Anthony [should be back]."
SAMED/POVEDA/ABDULLAHI
"We will have to wait with Salis and Ahmed. I think with Ian we might have to wait a little bit longer. He had a muscle injury, it wasn't a re-injury but he struggled and I think we have to build some strong foundations with him, so that he can be ready for us to make an impact in the second half of the season."
