Sunderland’s Injury Crisis Deepens Ahead of Sporting Lisbon Clash
As Sunderland prepares to face Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio Algarve on Monday night, the team will be without a number of key players due to injuries and absences. Here’s a breakdown of the latest team news:
Doubtful:
- Anthony Patterson: Patterson missed Saturday’s game with a minor knock and is a doubt for tonight’s match. Coach Le Bris has confirmed that the issue is not serious, but Patterson’s availability is still uncertain.
- Nectar Triantis: Triantis missed Saturday’s game with a minor knock but trained fully with the group on Sunday and could return to the lineup tonight.
- Chris Rigg: Rigg has been training with the team in Portugal but was not involved on Friday due to a minor knock. He didn’t train with the main group on Sunday and seems unlikely to feature tonight.
Out:
- Luke O’Nien: O’Nien is set to miss the first three games of the new Premier League season after suffering a dislocated shoulder in the play-off final win over Sheffield United.
- Romaine Mundle: Mundle suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury and returned to the UK for surgery. The exact timeframe for his return is unknown, but he’ll miss the start of the season.
- Leo Hjelde: Hjelde will miss the first three games of the season as he recovers from achilles surgery.
- Reinildo: The left back has been granted extra time off due to his involvement in the Club World Cup with Atletico Madrid and isn’t ready to feature yet.
- Aji Alese: Alese is recovering from an injury and will miss the first three games of the season.
- Dennis Cirkin: Cirkin is still recovering from a wrist injury that proved troublesome last season and will miss the opening run of Premier League fixtures.
Despite the injury crisis, Sunderland will be looking to make a strong impression against Sporting Lisbon in their final friendly of the trip to Portugal.
