Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris has been dealt a double injury concern ahead of this week’s upcoming international fixtures.
League football breaks for two weeks for this season’s second international break, in which Sunderland find themselves in 1st place of the Championship table.
Regis Le Bris’ side have lost just two of their opening nine games of the season and have won six, leaving them level on points with Sheffield United in 2nd place.
Last time out, Sunderland drew 2-2 with Leeds United, owing to a last-minute howler from Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier.
The Black Cats go into this break on some spotty form; Sunderland have won two of their last five, losing two as well.
Le Bris will be eager to do some work on the training ground and eager to give his players some resting time with a long way still to go in this campaign.
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Sunderland duo Dan Ballard and Jobe Bellingham dealt injury scares
Now though, Le Bris has been dealt a potential blow, with both Dan Ballard and Jobe Bellingham reportedly having injury scares.
Ballard has recently been injured and has missed the last three for Sunderland, but was surprisingly named in the Northern Ireland squad for this month’s Nations League games.
BBC report that Ballard has been ruled out of Northern Ireland’s two Nations League games this month with an ankle injury.
Bellingham meanwhile is with England’s U20s squad this month. But journalist Matthew Smith has revealed on X that the Sunderland midfielder has pulled out of the squad due to injury.
Jobe Bellingham injury will concern Regis Le Bris
Ballard has been absent for the last few weeks and it’s no surprise to see him pull out of international duty; it was a surprise to see him called up in the first place.
Bellingham is a fresh injury concern, though, and the extent of his injury is not yet known.
He plays that no.10 role really well and not having him available for the return of Championship football later this month would be a huge concern for Le Bris.
Replacing him would be difficult and it could mean a reshuffle of the team, potentially moving Chris Rigg up into that position, or even giving Milan Aleksic an unexpected starting spot.
Sunderland next face Hull City away from home on October 20th.
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