Lee Johnson gets series of Sunderland injury boosts as he gives update on squad's COVID recovery

Head Coach Lee Johnson says the picture at the club has improved considerably, after 14 players and a number of staff tested positive for the virus over the festive period.

Most have recovered well, and all players are now out of their period of isolation.

Johnson is hopeful that the club will be able to move forward after a challenging period, but conceded he will continue to monitor players closely for any signs of long-term health issues.

"The three or four that were struggling have bounced back, and the last couple of days we've had relative consistency on the training pitch," Johnson said.

"It is a concern, because it's so unchartered.

"We've got one player where I've made the decision personally, and he's not happy with it but he understands it, that it's not quite right.

"He had a bit of a double-dip where he came back and then struggled again, and at that point I made the decision we had to protect his long-term health and he's been omitted from the squad.

"We've got a duty of care to the lads, we're asking them to go the extra mile and sometimes put their families at risk, really."

Johnson also confirmed that the injury picture at the club is improving considerably, with a number of key players now fit again.

There has been a further boost with regards to Josh Scowen, who had initially expected to be on the sidelines until late February with a fracture in his shin.

Further scans have shown that there was in fact no fracture, and he could therefore return after Sunderland's next break.

The Black Cats have ten days without a fixture following the Northampton game, after the visit of Fleetwood Town was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Joey Barton's squad.

"The positive of this period, if there is one, is that we've been able to have some time in terms of tactical communication with the players," Johnson said.

"We've also had players return to fitness, Lynden Gooch, Aiden O'Brien, Callum McFadzean, Jordan Willis.

"We're at least going into a [busy] period of games with a strong squad.

"Our season will probably be defined by whether we can avoid any serious injuries, we've got to use our might and our might is our depth.

"As the season condenses, we'll have depth [other teams might not].

"Luke O'Nien and Denver Hume are not a million miles away.

"They've both done a lot of running but no contact. Luke has been struggling to switch on a particular muscle that helps him move his shoulder and arm, so he's probably ten days to two weeks away, possibly three.

"Denver is closer, he's been getting up to 85% in his strides, so it's a case of getting to 100% and then we need to build his training time.

"We've had top news on Josh Scowen," Johnson added.

"We originally thought he had a fracture, but it was very fine so he had extra exploration and it isn't a fracture.

"That changes his recovery to around three weeks."

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