Sunderland face another injury concern after their 1-0 defeat to Huddersfield Town last night.
Despite a promising run of results that had left Sunderland unbeaten in three, they now appear to be back to square one after continuing their poor record away from home.
The Black Cats now only have one away victory since September – having lost six and drawn four.
It was a very underwhelming and ‘irritating’ display from Michael Beale’s side, who failed to show any spark or attacking threat throughout the game.
The head coach opted to drop Patrick Roberts and give Abdoullah Ba another chance out wide, but eventually opted to swap the pair in a bid to find an equaliser.
The winger went onto have two shots and make one key pass, but things got even worse for Sunderland when he was forced off in the latter stages of the game.
Roberts went straight down the tunnel and, as Beale had used up his three opportunities to make changes, Sunderland were forced to see out the game with ten men.
Roberts had only returned from injury against Middlesbrough earlier this month and now could be set for another spell on the sidelines.
According to Sunderland Echo journalist Phil Smith, Michael Beale revealed post-match that he is worried it is the same hamstring injury that kept him out for about a month.
Roberts was taken off after only 15 minutes against Rotherham United in December, before going onto miss the next five games for the Black Cats.
He made his first start since his return against Plymouth and could well have featured from the start against Birmingham City, but the club will now have to wait and see the extent of his fresh injury setback.
Who should start vs Birmingham City?
While Patrick Roberts is still yet to get off the mark this term, he is still a big loss. His recent absence has been glaringly obvious and I still think he provides a lot more than Abdoullah Ba.
While a little chaotic, Romaine Mundle did look like he could cause some trouble this evening and so could perhaps be given a chance against the Blues.
Whatever happens, something needs to change and we can’t just keep relying on Jack Clarke to make something out of nothing.
It’s going to be a long weekend if we are beaten by Tony Mowbray too, while Alex Pritchard’s potential absence is possibly the only positive to take ahead of the trip to the Midlands.