LEE JOHNSON is hoping a number of Sunderland’s senior players will put themselves in contention for a Wembley appearance as they step up their training schedule in the next 24 hours.

The Black Cats take on League Two side Tranmere Rovers in the final of the Papa John’s Trophy on Sunday afternoon, and despite his team being on an eight-game unbeaten run, Johnson will have to make changes for the Wembley showpiece.

Three members of the squad that claimed a 2-0 win at Portsmouth last night are ineligible for the Papa John’s final, with Dion Sanderson, Jake Vokins and Carl Winchester all having represented other clubs in this season’s competition.

However, while the absences of Sanderson and Winchester will be especially keenly felt given that they started at Fratton Park, Johnson has a long list of players queueing up to replace them.

Tom Flanagan made his return from injury as a second-half substitute against Portsmouth and will be available to start at the weekend if required.

Bailey Wright, Grant Leadbitter, Ross Stewart and Benji Kimpioka are all due to train today, and depending how they react, the quartet could be available for Wembley duty.

Denver Hume, while training, is being lined up for a couple of Under-23 outings before he returns to the first-team fold, while Conor McLaughlin is not expected to begin training until later in the week and remains a major doubt for Wembley.

Johnson said: “The positive is that I’m taking a session (today) and we will have five players in that session who hopefully won’t be too far away.

“We had Tom coming back (at Portsmouth) which was a good one, we’ll have Bails training, Ross Stewart training, Denver Hume training, Grant Leadbitter training, and Benji Kimpioka training. We’ve got an embarrassment of riches, if you like.”