Head coach Tony Mowbray has been able to welcome some first-team players back into his squad over the summer after several were sidelined at the end of the last campaign. Some players also missed Sunderland’s pre-season US tour as they continue to recover from injury setbacks.
Here are the players who have been sidelined in recent weeks and their situations ahead of Sunderland’s fourth league game of the 2023-24 season against Coventry City away from home this weekend:
5. Elliot Embleton
Elliot Embleton has been absent since last December with an ankle fracture and ligament problem, while summer-signing Seelt suffered a recurrence of a minor ankle injury while making his debut during the club's pre-season tour of the US. "I've asked Elliot a lot how it's feeling and he tells me it's great," Mowbray said before Preston. "I don't think he's far away, I think he'll start training with us at some stage next week and then he might need a half a game for the U21s. He would certainly need a week to ten days of training with us before he can do that, though. So maybe a couple of weeks, which is good as it gives us another attack-minded footballer." Photo: Stu Forster
6. Jay Matete
Tony Mowbray has stated that Sunderland midfielder Jay Matete could be out until Christmas. "I think it's going to be months rather than weeks, for Matete. Maybe three months - November? "At the moment I don't have the exact time scale but it was quite a bad one." Photo: FRANK REID
7. Adam Richardson
Adam Richardson has suffered an injury setback last month and is expected back sometime in late September. Photo: FRANK REID
8. Tom Watson
The young Sunderland player would have featured more during Sunderland's pre-season but suffered a back injury which is still keeping him out. Photo: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC