Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris has confirmed that winger Ian Poveda was left out of his side’s win over Luton Town for ‘internal reasons’.
Poveda was expected to feature in the Black Cats’ 2-0 home victory against the struggling Hatters, having had a decent run of action. The attacker had come off the bench in Sunderland’s previous games against Middlesbrough and Watford but failed to make the bench this time, which raised injury concerns.
Speaking to the Northern Echo, Frenchman Le Bris confirmed the omission was disciplinary. He said, “Ian wasn’t available for selection.
“Ian isn’t injured. He wasn’t available for selection for internal reasons. I don’t have to comment on that reason. At the end he wasn’t available. Hopefully, he will be able to return to Monday.”
The Echo revealed that the specific reason for Poveda’s absence was lateness for a team get-together ahead of last night’s game. This isn’t expected to have any long term repercussions though, and Poveda is set to be considered for selection ahead of this weekend’s crucial game against fellow promotion contenders Leeds United.
Sunderland are going well in the Championship and find themselves fourth in the Championship, still in with a shout of automatic promotion back to the Premier League. Last night’s win, courtesy of goals from Enzo Le Fee and Wilson Isidor puts them within five points of the automatic promotion spots as the season enters its final months.
A win against Leeds would only serve to help their chances of going up, but a loss would dent their hopes of keeping up with the league leaders. They will need all the help they can get for what is undoubtedly the biggest game of their season so far, and will hope to have Poveda back against his further club.
Writer’s View
This makes sense; given Poveda’s recent involvement and no talk of injury it was always going to be a disciplinary issue. Sunderland have handled it well though and didn’t suffer too much for it, but they had to act to maintain discipline in the squad. This will draw a line under the issue which can’t be allowed to linger with a key game up next, and Sunderland will be hoping Poveda learns from it, comes straight back into the squad and makes an impact in a crucial period of the season for the club.
