DENNIS CIRKIN has suffered an injury setback that is expected to keep him on the sidelines for a number of weeks.
Cirkin has only made three substitute appearances since the beginning of September due to a hamstring injury that is proving tough to treat.
The defender sought to increase his training load during the holiday season, but was forced to reduce it after experiencing additional pain.
As a result, he has been sent for another round of scans, which appear to rule him out of first-team play for an extended period of time.
Sunderland manager Michael Beale also expects Bradley Dack to be out for at least two or three weeks after the summer acquisition from Blackburn Rovers suffered a hamstring injury in the Boxing Day triumph against Hull City.
“Bradley and Dennis aren’t going to be available, we’re going to be missing them for a while,” said Beale. “Bradley has a hamstring injury that will be around four weeks at best, but that’s probably the best possible diagnosis that we could have got.
“Dennis didn’t feel quite right when he came back to training and so we’re going to go through the process of getting the scans, and then we’ll give feedback when we can.”
There is better news on Jay Matete, with the midfielder having returned to action with Sunderland’s Under-21s.
“Jay is training and has been for a while,” said Beale. “He got 45 minutes in an Under-21s game, but he just hasn’t been selected for the last couple of games. So, he’s available for selection.”
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