Lee Johnson reveals 13 Sunderland players have COVID-19 and discusses fate of Accrington clash

The Black Cats are due to return to action against Accrington Stanley on December 29th, but that will depend on the recovery of those affected by the outbreak.

All three of Sunderland's goalkeepers have tested positive, and there are four players who will only be able to leave isolation on the day of the game against John Coleman's side.

"It's been a tough moment for us, it's definitely been a hurdle," Johnson told the #SAFCUnfiltered podcast.

"I think we've ended up with about 13 players testing positive for COVID-19. Not all of those have had symptoms.

"A couple of those struggled, in terms of it's taken longer than they had hoped to get over. We're just monitoring them all as much as possible, and obviously our thoughts are with them and their families because for a couple of them, their families have picked it up as well.

"It's been tough because it's unprecedented times and we just don't know it's going to affect their lung capacity or anything else moving forward.

"[The Accrington game] It depends on when we get back to action," Johnson added.

"First and foremost, our three goalkeepers have all tested positive. So that's leaves us in a bit of a pickle, depending on how we recover.

"One in particular has struggled quite a lot and the health and wellbeing of a player has to be at the front of any decision that is made.

"We've also got four senior players who are only able to come out of their isolation on the matchday of the 29th.

"So there's no way they can prepare or train, other than that at home.

“We've had to give them online sessions to do on zoom, which has been interesting and actually really good.

"But we've also done a lot of tactical work online as well, presented some slides just to see what their understanding is of the terminology and what we're trying to coach. I've been very impressed with the players on that front.

"It's going to be a very difficult period for us in terms of trying to gain any kind of consistency, but at the same time, we're doing everything in our control to try and achieve that."

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