Sunderland suffer further injury setback ahead of crunch Burton clash

Chris Coleman has suffered another injury setback after Bryan Oviedo was ruled out of the clash with Burton Albion.
Bryan Oviedo will miss the clash with Burton AlbionBryan Oviedo will miss the clash with Burton Albion
Bryan Oviedo will miss the clash with Burton Albion

After losing Donald Love to injury earlier in the week, Coleman will have to revamp his defence for what could be a defining game.

Billy Jones, Adam Matthews, Jake Clarke-Salter and Marc Wilson will all be in contention for the two full-back positions.

Coleman said: "We lost Bryan Oviedo today – he limped off.

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"He won't be available this weekend, and nor will Joel Asoro who limped off on Tuesday with a hamstring problem.

"Lynden Gooch and Donald Love won't be available for the remaining games of the season.

"That's all very, very, disappointing.

"But John O'Shea trained today and came through it OK, which is good news.

"Billy Jones and Adam Matthews also trained today."

Long injury lists have been a feature of Sunderland's two disastrous campaigns, and Coleman is determined to change it in the long-term.

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In the short-term, he may turn to some of the club's promising U23 talent to pad out his squad.

He said: "It's been frustrating because there are seven or eight players out injured, and it seems there's always at least half-a-dozen.

"I've spoken before about the robustness of the squad, and the fact that we don't have a lot of players who can play five or six games back-to-back because of one problem or another.

"There's nothing we can do about it now, we just have to get the best out of what we have got.

"We may need a couple of them of the younger boys on the bench this Saturday. We’ll need to see how one or two go between now and Saturday. "