After over two months on the sidelines through ankle injury, Duncan Watmore made his return from the bench against Norwich City in impressive style, scoring the third goal of their crucial 3-0 victory and Sam Allardyce has had plenty of praise for him.
The 22 year-old is now reportedly in line to start in the Black Cats next game against Arsenal ahead of Wahbi Khazri who has now got major pressure on him to retain his place in the squad as Sunderland look to maintain their Premier League status.
Despite playing at Carrow Road, Allardyce revealed that the clubs physio had actually claimed he needed another game before he rejoined the squad, but after watching him in training he made the decision that,"If we needed him for 20 minutes or 25 minutes he might make a difference."
Impressive Performance
Instead of just 25 minutes, Watmore ended up coming on at half time to make a fantastic impact, not just with his goal but his performance in general. Big Sam believes he was "Dangerous on three or four occassions" which has seen fans call for him to start the next game, and his return to fitness could prove to be paramount as the season draws to a close.
However his fitness is not perfect just yet as Allardyce revealed he was, "Extremely tired at the end of the game" which shouldn't come as shocking news due to the fact he has been out of action for "Such a long time" but it could be a problem if he is risked without being at full fitness in the forthcoming games.
But the expereinced manager knows that the only way to het him back to full fitness is by, "Playing more and more games" and if Watmore continues to show the form he displayed against Norwich, it will be impossible for Allardyce not to give him game time.