Sunderland will have five players absent ahead of their pre-season clash with Nottingham Forest.
Regis Le bris’ side are set to face a tricky test against Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest in a pre-season friendly.
Sunderland will be hoping to repeat the successes of their win away at South Shields in Le Bris’ first pre-season outing as manager, with the 5-0 victory seeing youngster Eliezer Mayenda score from the penalty spot and impress during his appearance, whilst midfielder Dan Neil also put in a brilliant shift as he picked up the captain’s armband.
There will also be work to be done following Sunderland’s disappointing and unexpected loss to Gateshead, which saw Jack Clarke suggest that Le Bris tactics ‘had been difficult so far’.
Sunderland’s chances against Nottingham Forest are set to be hampered by the exclusion of five first-team players, who are all out of the squad as a result of recent injury concerns.
Dan Ballard and Abdoullah Ba amongst a lengthy Sunderland injury list
Sunderland are set to be without five players ahead of their clash with Nottingham Forest in pre-season.
According to Sunderland Echo, ‘Abdoullah Ba, Nectar Triantis, Jenson Seelt and Niall Huggins’ are all set to miss the game due to injury, however they are still ‘with the team in Spain’.
Sunderland defender Dan Ballard will also miss the game, having previously suffered an injury in the win away at South Shields where he was substituted off at half-time.
On a positive note, it will be likely that Sunderland fans will see new signings Simon Moore and Alan Browne make their pre-season debut after missing the first set of games.
Sunderland must prepare in the transfer market for any further injury woes
In pre-season, the injuries give the opportunity for Le Bris to tinker with his squad and try out some youth prospects amongst the squad.
Aside from the exclusion of Ballard and Ba, the injury list isn’t too bad for Le Bris, however when the 2024/25 Championship season starts, he will want to make sure that he has the depth to fight back against any potential of an injury crisis.
With Sunderland’s current figure of just two arrivals so far this summer, it’s likely that injuries could affect Le Bris’ plans considerably, especially on the attacking front with very few options being available at this moment in time.
Not only does Kristjaan Speakman need to bring bodies through the door to provide Championship quality and experience, but it needs to be filled out with competent players at this level who can slot in when called upon, such as the likes of new goalkeeper Moore.
Sunderland’s transfer business is far from over at this moment, however they must recruit fast in order to prevent any injury issues affecting their pre-season preparations ahead of the new campaign.