QPR manager Marti Cifuentes has stated that Jake Clarke-Salter will be eligible to face his former side Sunderland.

The centreback Black Cats in the second part of the catastrophic 2017-18 season, as the Wearsiders attempted to avoid relegation from the Championship.

Clarke-Salter struggled to make an impression and was sent off twice in 11 Wearside games, leading to his eventual demotion.

Clarke-Salter has found a new home with Championship team QPR after multiple EFL loans over the years, starting the club’s most recent games against West Brom and Middlesbrough.

The 26-year-old former Chelsea and Birmingham City defender was substituted by Morgan Fox late in the West Brom game, leaving some QPR supporters concerned about an injury. Clarke-Salter, on the other hand, returned to the team for the match against Middlesbrough last weekend.

After the West Brom game, QPR manager Cifuentes stated: “He’s completely OK. It was a tactical replacement. We believed Foxy could aid us in the sole circumstance in which we thought West Brom might win the game: set pieces.

“We wanted to close with three men, and Foxy is extremely excellent in that’side-back’ position, which is neither centre-back nor full-back. It is quite natural for him.

“So that’s why we decided to put him on and take Jake out, with Chrissy (Willock) in a type of left wing-back position.”

Sunderland meet QPR at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, with the Black Cats on a six-game losing streak in the Championship.

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