Sunderland have suffered a further setback as one of Regis Le Bris’ most trusted players is set to be sidelined.
As the international break draws to a close, the attention of Sunderland supporters turns to Regis Le Bris’ side’s return to action this Saturday, with the crunch visit of Alex Neil’s Millwall to the Stadium of Light looming.
Before several Sunderland stars headed for international duty, Le Bris’ side delivered an uncharacteristically poor display as Sunderland suffered a 3-0 defeat at Coventry.
The Black Cats were hit by another major injury concern during the Sky Blues hammering, as left-back Dennis Cirkin was substituted off in the second half due to a hamstring issue.
It came as a major blow for the former Spurs youngster, who had just one day prior been called up to Lee Carsley’s England under-21s for the first time, and the extent of Cirkin’s injury has yet to be diagnosed by Sunderland.
With the campaign’s crucial final eight games to go, and Sunderland’s potential play-off fate needing to be made mathematically secure, Le Bris has been hit by further injury concerns for another of his most-used full-backs.
Sunderland star Trai Hume withdraws from Northern Ireland squad with injury
Sunderland right-back Trai Hume was in line to feature again for Northern Ireland tonight in their friendly against Sweden, buoyed on the back of Hume’s ‘captain material’ display against Switzerland in the 1-1 stalemate on Friday night. However, the 19-time capped full-back has withdrawn from the squad due to injury.
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill confirmed the former Linfield starlet has returned to Wearside for Sunderland to investigate the extent of aggravation to Hume’s hip injury. O’Neill said: “He’d not really been training with Sunderland, just playing games and getting through games.
“He felt quite sore after the game on Friday and we thought rather than put him through that again it was better to send him back to the club and have that investigated. It’s not something that we want, or Sunderland want, to drag on. They’ve got a lot to play for.”
Hume has been one of Sunderland’s most consistent performers this season, starting 36 of his side’s 38 Championship clashes so far this term, with seven-goal contributions tallied for the tough-tackling defender.
Hume’s ability to impact the game positively in both defensive and attacking situations will be hard to replicate for Le Bris.
| Key statistics | Trai Hume for Sunderland this season |
| Games played | 37 |
| Goals | 6 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Chances created | 54 |
| Tackles won | 62 |
| Interceptions | 44 |
| Aerial duels won | 80 |
| Yellow cards | 10 |
Which Sunderland man will Regis Le Bris call on to replace Trai Hume
With Hume therefore likely to miss the Lions clash this weekend, Le Bris will be forced to shoehorn in a replacement right-back into his Sunderland side.
The likely contenders to replace Hume are; Jenson Seelt, Luke O’Nien or Alan Browne, although none of those three are natural full-backs.
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Utility-man O’Nien is the most experienced of the trio at right-back – with 70 career appearances in that role – and will more than likely be the candidate to replace the injured Northern Irishman, with Seelt then likely moving into centre-half alongside Chris Mepham.
Le Bris could also opt to have Seelt or Browne as straight swaps for Hume, but whatever call the Black Cats manager makes, it will be an imperative one as Sunderland seek to regain momentum ahead of the pivotal promotion push run-in starting with Saturday’s visit of Millwall.