Jan Kirchhoff is set to 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.
But after making his return to first-team training, the 25-year-old German midfielder is now in line to make a comeback to competition action at Spotland, where several other senior players could also be given some game time.
"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."