Michael Beale issues Patrick Roberts injury update ahead of crucial Sunderland fixtures

Sunderland are hopeful that they have avoided a potentially serious muscle issue after withdrawing Patrick Roberts early in the contest at Rotherham United.

Roberts experienced some discomfort when making an early clearance down the pitch, immediately signalling for a substitution. Beale replaced the winger with Abdoullah Ba and is hopeful that the precautionary move will pay off. Sunderland face Preston North End on New Year's Day before facing Newcastle United in a week.

“He said he felt it being tight, so we’ll obviously get it looked at, but he doesn’t feel as though he’s popped it so we might be lucky there," Beale said.

"That’s the schedule that we’ve had. It’s been a whirlwind ten days with the three games, and we had two days where we couldn’t really train because of the high winds. There’s not been a lot of time so I’m getting to know this group on the go."

Sunderland were without Bradley Dack after he picked up a hamstring injury at Hull City, while Niall Huggins has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a major knee injury. There were two positives for Beale at Rotherham United, however, with Aji Alese making his first appearance in a matchday squad this season and Timothée Pembélé making his debut as a second-half substitute. Beale also confirmed that Dennis Cirkin is close to a return from his hamstring issue.

“I haven’t had a chance to see a lot of Timothée," Beale said.

"We’ve only had two or three sessions, so I’m learning a lot about him. Jenson hadn’t played 90 minutes for a long while, and he did fantastic at Hull, I thought he was one of the picks of our players. We knew that going 60 or 70 minutes (at Rotherham), we’d have to rotate that. The game was asking for it as well. I haven’t seen much of Timothee, but we’ve got him, Aji is now fit and Dennis is back in training as well. Losing Niall Huggins was a blow, but I think we’re blessed in the full-back positions. I think we’ve got three or four outstanding young full-backs."