Ethan set to feature in comeback from ankle injury

Ethan Robson is set to make his comeback for Sunderland against Manchester City U21s tonight.

The 22-year-old has been missing since October with an ankle problem but will return in the Checkatrade Trophy quarter-final.

Jack Ross had been weighing up playing Robson in an U23 game against Charlton last night but will instead have the talented midfielder in his ranks at the Stadium of Light.

Ross will make changes to his usual league side for the game, but Bali Mumba is suspended.

“Ethan will be involved with us in the squad,” Ross said. “He’s obviously not played since the Carlisle game but he’ll hopefully get some game time.”

Another promising youngster closin g in on a return is leftback Denver Hume.

Hume played his way into first team contention earlier in the season but suffered a bad knee injury in the opening stages of a 1-1 draw with Coventry City back in September. Hume is back in full training but tonight’s game comes too soon for him. “He joined in with bits of training last week,” Ross said. “This will be his first week of full training, he’s obviously been out since the Coventry game, which is quite a long time.

“He’s looked good, fit and strong.

“He’ll need a couple of weeks of full training before we get him involved in games.”

The likes of Bryan Oviedo and Alim Ozturk are likely to feature as Ross rotates his squad.

“We don’t play Saturday so that has helped my squad selection,” Ross said. “We’ve got quite a few bumps and bruises from Scunthorpe, which we’ll have to assess over the next 24 hours.

“It’s important we get some game time into those that haven’t had a lot of it recently.”