This weekend, Adil Aouchiche and Eliezer Mayenda will travel to South Wales, having missed their previous games due to injuries.
Adil Aouchiche and Eliezer Mayenda will travel to Swansea City with Sunderland this weekend – but Tony Mowbray has hinted they are unlikely to figure at the Liberty Stadium. French midfielder Aouchiche has sat out the last two games with a groin problem but has now resumed training.
The Spanish striker was expected to start on the bench against Norwich City last weekend, but was benched as a precaution after experiencing some discomfort with the injury on the eve of the game. Mayenda has yet to make his Wearside debut, having sustained a hamstring injury immediately after moving to the area in the summer. The next step for Mayenda would be to play for the U21s, but Mowbray has decided to take him on the flight to Swansea in order to help him integrate into the first team group. The lengthy coach ride to Southampton for tomorrow’s Premier League 2 match could have been counterproductive.
Mowbray declared, “I don’t think [anyone will be back at Swansea]. Eliezer Mayenda has been training with us, but it’s clear that he has only played in one ninety-minute game—a bounce match against Hibs at the start of last week.
“Eliezer will accompany us to Swansea, but a few boys have travelled to Southampton to play for the U21 team. He’s coming with us so he can become a little more a part of our group because sitting on a coach for however long wasn’t going to be good for his hamstring.
“The squad will essentially remain the same as it has been, in my opinion. Adil has resumed his workouts. To be honest, he was supposed to start the game before he got hurt. He’s coming with us, but I believe he needs to continue his training programme.”
The 22-year-old defender, Aji Alese, has not yet recovered from the thigh injury he aggravated in May, but Mowbray believes he may play again by the end of the month following the impending international break. “Aji is currently spending every day outside on the grass, so I would expect that he won’t be too far away from joining us in the main group,” he stated.
By the time of the upcoming international break, he should be back in full training and vying for a spot, though he will undoubtedly want to play for the U21s at some point during that time. However, he is now not far away.”
