Newcastle defender to miss Sunderland match along with six other Swansea first-team players

Swansea will be without several first-team players for Saturday's trip to Sunderland as they look to end a poor run of results.

The Swans have won just one of their last seven league games following the appointment of Luke Williams as the club's head coach in January. That run has included games against five of the top six Championship teams, but has seen the Swans drop to 18th in the table.

After missing three games with an injury, defender Harry Darling returned to the squad as Swansea were beaten 2-1 by Ipswich last weekend. Midfielder Azeem Abdulai has also returned to training following a long-term hamstring issue, yet Josh Key, Bashir Humphreys, Jamal Lowe and Newcastle loanee Harrison Ashby look set to remain sidelined. 

“We have players making good progress,” said Williams ahead of the Sunderland match. “Josh has been out on the grass with the conditioning team so he is not a million miles away, Harrison Ashby was out there too but there’s no fixed date for him.

“Azeem has trained so he could be available, but we need to be careful as we brought him back ahead of schedule last time and now we have a good plan for him. He is athletic and versatile so he would be a welcome addition.

“Jamal is doing well, we are communicating with Bournemouth on where he is with his rehab. We think he will be back soon. This game is too close but after that I think he will be back training fully and then be available to us.”

Swansea will also be without long-term absentees Sam Parker, Josh Ginnelly and Liam Walsh for their trip to Wearside.