Sunderland will assess Luke O'Nien's fitness before deciding whether he is fit for this weekend's game against Luton Town. The defender was substituted late in the Black Cats' defeat against Sheffield United at the Stadium of Light last night after he was kicked by Ollie Norwood as the pair challenged for the ball.
O'Nien went down hurt after the incident and when he got to his feet he was limping, prompting Tony Mowbray to send on Pierre Ekwah in his place for the final few minutes. Mowbray admitted after the game that the injury was a 'concern', not least because O'Nien has been filling in at left-back while Dennis Cirkin and Aji Alese have been out of action.
Alese has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a thigh injury, and Cirkin is still suffering the after-effects of the concussion he sustained at the beginning of February and has yet to return to full-contact training. "I don't know, it's a bit early," said Mowbray, when asked about the severity of O'Nien's injury after the game.
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"I think it was just a kick and a clash, and yet it is a bit concerning because Luke O'Nien isn't somebody who would be hobbling about or staying down from an injury, so we'll see over the next day or two."
Mowbray is hoping that on-loan Manchester United forward Amad will be ready to return after he missed last weekend's win at Norwich and then the Sheffield United game with a minor hamstring issue. He said: "I hope he'll be back at the weekend.
"Expect - I'm not sure. In my mind he'll need to train Thursday and Friday if he's going to be available to start. If he misses Thursday and trains Friday he might be available on the bench. I'll have to talk to him and see how he feels.
"Again, I'm not here making excuses. It feels like there are some pretty important players unavailable and we're trying to make a fist of it."
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