Michael Beale has explained the decision to leave Jobe Bellingham on the Sunderland bench was motivated by a need to rotate his midfield this week.

Sunderland have a busy week, which started with Plymouth at home and now moves onto away trips to Huddersfield (on Wednesday) and Birmingham City.

Those upcoming fixtures will come with a lot of travelling, and Beale is keen to manage the fitness and freshness of his team as much as possible.

That meant Jobe got a rest against Plymouth, before coming on for Ekwah and scoring – but even that substitution was a pre-planned move with the upcoming games in mind.

Asked what the thinking was behind leaving Jobe on the bench, Beale said: “We spoke about this week, [we have] three really big games [this week].

“We’ve got a lot of travelling to do, down to Huddersfield and back, then down to Birmingham.

“Pierre [coming off was] was pre-planned. You can’t plan it 100 per cent, but it was pre-planned that the midfield would rotate a little bit this week.”

Beale also combined the plan to rotate the midfield with a desire to tweak the shape of the Sunderland team at home.