Sunderland were dealt yet another blow to their hopes of returning to the Premier League at the weekend following a 2-1 loss to former head coach Tony Mowbray’s Birmingham City.
This was the Black Cats’ second consecutive defeat in the Championship, having lost 1-0 in midweek away at Huddersfield Town, leaving the side tenth in the table and four points behind the final playoff spot which is currently occupied by Coventry City.
Manager Michael Beale has been in charge of the Wearside club for 12 matches now but has guided the team to merely four victories in all competitions, losing six times. Sunderland have accumulated 14 points out of a possible 33 during the former Queens Park Rangers boss’ tenure.
Furthermore, Beale’s men face some tricky customers over the next few weeks, with fixtures against Swansea City, Norwich City, Leicester City and Southampton on the near horizon, making a push for the playoffs even trickier.
Additionally, Sunderland have picked up some injury concerns over the past week. Patrick Roberts limped off with a hamstring problem on Tuesday, while Elliot Embleton has remained sidelined since suffering a torn quadricep during his loan spell with Derby County.
Speaking after the defeat on Saturday afternoon, Beale revealed that both men will be absent from the team for a period of four to five weeks [quotes via the Sunderland Echo]:
“Yeah, it’ll be four or five weeks for Patrick.
“We won’t see Paddy or Elliot for a while. The scan for Embo showed something which we didn’t expect to see so he’s going to be out for probably a similar time. It’s disappointing for both of them.”
Sunderland were dealt another injury concern at the weekend as goalscorer Jack Clarke took a knock early into proceedings, although Beale has reassured fans that it won’t be much of an issue.
“He was fine, he had a little strapping on it.
“He took a knock early in the game on Wednesday when we broke and the lad run across him. We didn’t get anything for it but he got a knock and then caught it again when he scored the goal, just felt it a little bit at half-time,” he continued.
“We asked him at half-time, we asked him when we were making the subs in the second half, he said he was fine but I don’t think there’s much of an issue there.”
