Swansea City suffer injury blow ahead of Sunderland visit as head coach rules key player out of game

Swansea City head coach Luke Williams has confirmed that Joe Allen will miss Sunderland's visit to South Wales this weekend.

The influential Welsh international missed Swansea's 2-1 win away at Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night after suffering a minor muscle injury during the 1-1 draw with Luton Town days previous. Williams said that Allen will not be sidelined for a long period but this weekend's game will come too soon.

"Unfortunately he felt something at the end of the last game and it turned out to be a small problem that is going to keep him sidelined for a short period of time," Williams said.

"I think there's a chance that we see him over Christmas but we have to be very careful with Joe. He is royalty around these parts.

"Joe will do everything, he is an incredible pro, and the medical team will help him. Hopefully we'll be able to see him at the back end of the Christmas period."

Allen's injury meant that 30-year-old Jay Fulton came into the side at Plymouth, scoring in the win over Wayne Rooney's side. Goncalo Franco will also likely get minutes in midfield over the course of the game having impressed his head coach following his summer switch from Portuguese side Moreirense.

"Jay's such a good player, but we have some competition in there," Williams said.

"The captain [Matt Grimes] is incredible of course, Goncalo [Franco] has done really well and we have Joey Allen as well. We have so many good players in this position

"We know the quality Jay has. Everyone in the group respects him and he has shown that he can come in – relatively – from the cold, because he has only started four games in the league, and make a really good performance and key contribution."

Swansea City are also currently without longer-term injury absentees Ollie Cooper, Andy Fisher, Sam Parker and Josh Ginnelly. Ginnelly is back training but Saturday's game is expected to come too soon at this stage.