Sunderland boss explains Patrick Roberts and Callum Styles latest in full team news update

Michael Beale has confirmed that Patrick Roberts will miss Sunderland's trip to Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon and the head coach is planning to be without the winger for a few weeks at least.

Roberts will go for a scan on his hamstring today but Sunderland believe it is similar to the issue that sidelined him for around a month earlier in the campaign. Beale is likely to choose between Abdoullah Ba or Romaine Mundle to play in Roberts' absence, and has said there will be opportunities for both to impress on Saturday.

Beale has also said that he will make a late decision on whether Callum Styles comes into the squad for the first time, but added that he will definitely be fully fit to face Swansea City next weekend at the Stadium of Light.

"With Paddy he scan is today, it's the other side of the hamstring to what he did earlier in the season, but we think it's very similar," Beale said.

"It's obviously a real sore one for us to take because we tried to manage his minutes. We were managing a calf and then managed to get a hamstring. It's horrible for Paddy and the team to be honest.

"On Callum, it was Callum's second full session today so we will have to see," Beale added.

There is a bit of tenderness there. By next week he will be 100 per cent so we will have to see whether he makes the bench and how much he can play. He's a bit of an unknown to us in the sense that he's only had a couple of sessions - he's a very good footballer by the way.

"In terms of Romaine, it's a possibility with how the week's gone and minutes a lot of the lads have had are going to have to share the minutes this weekend. I think it's fair to say you may see Romaine and Abdoullah sharing some minutes in that position."

Sunderland are set to make changes for the game, with Beale confirming that he will have to assess a couple of knocks in the group on the back of Wednesday's defeat: "We’ve got one or two lads who are a bit sore, we’ve got one or two we need to check on in terms of selection so that will give opportunities to one or two others, maybe. It’s going to be a squad game when you play three games in a week and have the travel we’ve had."