Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray admits Ellis Simms is likely to remain sidelined for at least the next few weeks with a toe injury.
The Everton loanee picked up the knock in the first half-hour of the Black Cats’ 3-0 win at Reading in mid-September, putting a sudden halt to a promising start to life in the north east - he had scored three goals in eight Championship appearances up until that point.
What was initially an innocuous injury has taken far longer than anticipated to ease, with Mowbray initially describing the 21-year-old’s chances of facing Watford less than 72 hours later as ‘touch and go’. But before last weekend’s 0-0 draw, the Sunderland boss ruled Simms out again and put the ball in Everton’s court as to next steps.
