Jan Kirchhoff will make his Sunderland return for the club's under-23s in their Checkatrade Trophy match at Rochdale on Tuesday.

Kirchhoff, a January arrival from Bayern Munich, has not played for the Black Cats this season due to a hamstring injury.

"We're looking at some game time for big Kirchhoff," revealed first-team coach Robbie Stockdale. "I'm just checking on another two senior players later today to see if they're ready to go.

"It will be a mixed squad."

He added: "We have some extra time due to our next game being on a Monday night and the training group hasn't been large this week with players on international duty.

"Fingers crossed they return unscathed and like I said, we have an extra couple of days to prepare for the Everton game."