Aji Alese is expected to be sidelined until after the World Cup break after suffering an ankle injury in Sunderland's midweek defeat at Blackburn Rovers. The defender limped off midway through the second half after picking up the injury in a 50-50 challenge, and boss Tony Mowbray said today Alese would likely be out of action for between three and four weeks which would take him up to next month's World Cup break.
"Aji is in a protective plastic boot at the moment to stop him stressing the area," said Mowbray, ahead of Sunderland's game against Burnley at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. "He's had a scan, it's not as bad as we thought it might be because it looked a really bad one.
"We watched the incident back on the video with the medical department and he has twisted his ankle as well as taking a really heavy kick on it. I think the best-case scenario is three to four weeks, which probably takes us to the international World Cub break.
