MIKE Dodds has described the Sunderland head coach vacancy as "incredibly attractive and exciting" for potential candidates, as the club's decision makers continue to assess their options and and line up further interviews.

Sunderland bosses are focused on making the right appointment rather than a quick one, with Dodds - at this stage - looking extremely likely to be in charge for Tuesday's game against Leeds as well as leading Sunderland against West Brom this afternoon.

What's not clear at this stage is whether Dodds would thrust himself into contention if he was to get two positive results in the coming days against promotion-chasing sides. The interim boss didn't rule himself out when he was asked on Friday whether he was interested in the role on a permanent basis.

But he knows there's huge interest from external candidates, which comes as no surprise given Sunderland have a talented group of young players and are just three points outside the Championship's top six.

"If you were a coach and wanted to work at this level it would be an incredibly attractive job for anyone," said Dodds.

"They're coming into a really, really good group, a young group but a group focused on individually getting better.

"If we can get those individuals even better and gel them better as a team, it's a really exciting proposition for anyone to come into.

"For me, whoever that person is, they're coming into a really good spot in terms of the group and the quality here."

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Julien Sable and Kim Hellberg remain favourites with the bookies, with the latter said to have held preliminary discussions with Sunderland this week. Fresh reports in Scandinavia yesterday claimed Hellberg is extremely keen on the role, but Sunderland will continue to speak to candidates rather than rush a decision.

Will Still continues to be talked about but whether the Black Cats could tempt the highly-rated Reims boss to the Championship - or afford him - remains to be seen.

Dodds' immediate focus is on today's game against West Brom, with Sunderland boosted by the availability of Nazariy Rusyn after the striker missed the last two games with a groin injury.

Timothée Pembélé and Jay Matete have also been back in training but are unlikely to be involved today. Aji Alese and Dennis Cirkin remain sidelined.

Dodds said: "It'll be a similar squad.

"Timmy is back training this week, so he's trained fully. Jay Matete has trained fully as well, which is two massive positives for us. "This game is obviously going to come a bit too soon for them but we're hoping that maybe by the back end of next week, they might be involved. They're two very positive additions for us. Aji and Dennis aren't quite back in the group yet.

"Nazariy is back in with the group."