Sunderland AFC injury news: Ellis Simms, Bailey Wright, Dennis Cirkin, Ross Stewart, Luke O'Nien and Edouard Michut latest

Sunderland have equipped themselves well since promotion from League One, winning four times, drawing thrice and losing three times during their opening eight games.

The Black Cats were last in action against Watford at Vicarage Road, drawing 2-2 in a memorable afternoon.

Here, we take you through the situation surrounding injuries in Tony Mowbray’s squad:

Luke O’Nien

The defender is just one booking away from a suspension. Certainly, one to keep an eye on when the Black Cats take on Preston North End after the international break.

Dan Ballard

Dan Ballard will be on the sidelines for approximately eight weeks after suffering after the 22-year-old sustained a foot fracture during Sunderland’s 2-2 draw with QPR.

"It is difficult to put a timescale on it," former head coach Alex Neil said before his departure.

"We have a few other scans to undertake - and a couple of specialists to see - to fully understand the severity of it, but that process is underway to ensure he then receives the necessary treatment to get him back as soon as we can.”

Bailey Wright

The Australian was absent from the Sunderland squad altogether as Mowbray’s men faced Reading and Watford

However, it is understood that Wright’s omission from the 18 at Reading and at Watford was due to personal circumstances and not injury.

The defender has been named in the latest Australia squad.

Edouard Michut

Edouard Michut could be in contention to make his debut after the upcoming international break, according to Mowbray.

The Frenchman suffered a minor injury during his first days of training with Sunderland following the loan move from PSG.

I don't think he's too far away," Mowbray said.

"He's trained with us this week but we're still protecting him a little bit, he doesn't necessarily do all of the sessions just at the moment.

"I think the intensity of the training here has been higher than what he had recently, and so I think the first few days for him were hard and he had to be protected a bit.

"He was feeling it a bit and had a little setback, and we want to build him up bit by bit so he doesn't pull a hamstring or anything like that.

"He's probably a week or two away from being in contention, possibly after the international break he could be."

After the Watford game, Mowbray said that he hopes Michut will be in contention to make his Sunderland debut after another two weeks of acclimatising and getting up to speed.

Niall Huggins

The full-back hasn’t featured yet this Championship season, Sunderland giving him all the time he needs to make a full and proper recovery.

The 21-year-old made an impressive start to life on Wearside after joining from Leeds United last season, but his campaign was brought to a premature end by two serious injuries.

Huggins suffered a stress fracture of the back before suffering the same injury in both of his heels as he began a comeback.

The defender is making progress in his recovery and travelled to Portugal with the Sunderland squad as he continued his rehabilitation with the club's medical team.

Huggins could return sometime after Christmas but has yet to even feature for the under-23s team yet this season.

Ross Stewart

Mowbray has confirmed striker Ross Stewart will be sidelined for at least six weeks.

Stewart picked up a thigh issue during the warm-up ahead of the 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough, meaning he was taken out of the starting XI.

Dennis Cirkin

Mowbray also remains confident that Dennis Cirkin will be back in the matchday squad when Preston North End travel to the Stadium of Light on October 1st.

Cirkin has been missing from the side for the last two games with a hamstring injury, but was an outstanding performer in the early weeks of the season.

That will present Mowbray with a fascinating and very welcome dilemma, given how well Aji Alese has performed in the last two games.

"I think so, that's certainly what we're working to," Mowbray said of Cirkin.

"I get a report every day from the physios and I hope that he will be available after the international break, I've no reason to think that he won't be from the information I've had.

"He'll have to go through the process of getting out there, running, kicking, twisting and turning, and sometimes in that process something can be not quite right but with Dennis we're hopeful that won't be the case."

Ellis Simms

Ellis Simms was absent as Sunderland earned a 2-2 draw against Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday due to a toe problem, but was with the squad on the day as the head coach revealed afterwards he felt it was sensible to give him a longer period of rest."It was touch and go with Ellis, and the common sense thing was just not to expose his toe, where he could go down after five or ten minutes," Mowbray explained.

"It's OK having a jog about and thinking you're OK, but in a Championship match where there is no hiding place I think it made more sense just to give him a couple of weeks.

"Then I would hope by the Preston game when we restart that he'll be in contention. We'll have to wait and see, of course, because until he gets his boots on and starts sprinting then we won't know for sure."