Régis Le Bris issues Sunderland injury update and explains why Wilson Isidor and Niall Huggins were missing

Régis Le Bris says Wilson Isidor and Niall Huggins were left out of Sunderland's squad against Sporting Lisbon as a precaution.

The pair were absent from the 1-0 draw against the Portuguese champions, a game in which the Black Cats played well and were probably unlucky to lose. Wilson Isidor took a whack to his knee in the draw with Sevilla on Saturday but the issue is not serious, while Huggins was rested after a demanding recent schedule. Having missed all of last season through injury, Sunderland want to proceed carefully to give him the best chance of succeeding.

"Wilson took a bit of a kick to his knee in the last game, he trained yesterday but it will a little bit stiff this morning," Le Bris said.

"So we just decided to avoid any risk with this game. I'm not worried at the moment. Then with Niall, he has had eight consecutive days of training and I think the last one was too much. Again, we just decided against a risky situation for him."

Anthony Patterson and Chris Rigg were again absent, but Le Bris says they should be available as Sunderland return to action against Hearts or Hull City over the next week. Reinildo will miss those games as he builds his match fitness. but Sunderland are confident that he will be ready for the start of the season. The former Atletico Madrid defender's season finished considerably later as a result of the Club World Cup.

"For Anthony and Riggy, I think next week they should be available for us if everything progresses as we hope," Le Bris said.

"Reinildo has started a little bit later, so he will need I think maybe one week or ten days to get into his best shape. The foundations need to be laid and then he will start the full training sessions and come into the games."

Your next Sunderland read: How all 23 Sunderland players rated in narrow Sporting Lisbon defeat