Sunderland face a crucial Championship clash with Millwall his weekend, but a worrying injury update has emerged in an update from reliable journalist Michael Graham.
Mowbray facing Sunderland sack
The Black Cats have had a really difficult week, suffering consecutive losses in the league, firstly away to Plymouth Argyle then at home to struggling Huddersfield Town. These results have heaped the pressure on Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray, with sporting director Kristjaan Speakman even believed to be eyeing up younger alternatives to replace the 60-year-old, ahead of his potential sacking in the near future.
On Saturday afternoon, Sunderland head to Millwall for what feels like a must-win game just to wrestle back some momentum. While they are only a couple of wins adrift of the playoff positions currently, it does feel more likely that the gap will only increase instead of narrow at the moment.
Mowbray hasn’t necessarily been helped by injury problems within his squad, with a number of players missing important chunks of action of late. The likes of Aji Alese, Jay Matete and Dennis Cirkin are just some of the Sunderland heroes who have been struggling with fitness issues, while Jewison Bennette has been ill this week.
Fresh injury update on Rusyn
According to Graham on X, Sunderland forward Nazariy Rusyn has picked up an injury, putting him at risk of not featuring this weekend: “Sunderland suffer fresh injury concern as Nazariy Rusyn absence explained.”
Meanwhile, in his update for Sunderland Nation, Graham shared Mowbray’s comments from his pre-Millwall press conference, with the Black Cats manager confirming that a “groin strain” was suffered by the 25-year-old.
This is exactly what Mowbray could do without in the lead-up to such a vital game in terms of his future, even though Rusyn may not exactly be one of the first names on his team sheet.
The Ukrainian is still adjusting to life at the Stadium of Light, having only joined in the summer window, and the Sunderland attacker is yet to score in nine Championship appearances this season. He has chipped in with one assist, though, and is someone who it would be far better to have available as an option from the substitutes’ bench.
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Sunderland lost 2-1 at home to Huddersfield Town last night to lose more ground in the playoff race, with this first team player poor throughout.
Hopefully, Rusyn’s absence is only a short-term, but given the nature of his groin issue, it is difficult to see him being in contention to feature at Millwall this weekend, on a potentially make-or-break afternoon for Mowbray.
Millwall are currently languishing in 19th place in the Championship, so there is no reason for Sunderland to fear their opponents, but the aforementioned recent losses to Plymouth and Huddersfield may have knocked the stuffing out of the players.
Having Rusyn available would act as a big boost for the Black Cats, but it looks likely that they will have to make do without their summer signing, with other attackers tasked with stepping up to the plate instead.
