Sunderland monitor injury concern to key striker

Sunderland will monitor a knock Ross Stewart picked up in the latter stages of the 2-2 draw with Fleetwood Town.
Ross Stewart celebrates his goal at FleetwoodRoss Stewart celebrates his goal at Fleetwood
Ross Stewart celebrates his goal at Fleetwood

Stewart looks likely to be rested for Tuesday night's Carabao Cup third round clash at Wigan Athletic, with Lee Johnson pondering further changes to his XI.

The Scottish striker looked uncomfortable through the closing stages of Saturday's game, with Johnson noting that the incident in question saw more contact with a defender than the one which saw Fleetwood awarded a late penalty.

“Ross just rolled his ankle in the box," Johnson said.

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"If you look at that one, that’s more contact than the one the referee's ended up giving against Bailey. The precedent he’s set is just ridiculous."

Johnson is keen to quickly get Sunderland back to winning ways at the DW Stadium, but is conscious that he has a number of players in need of minutes to maintain their match sharpness.

Leon Dajaku is in contention to make his debut.

“I try not to pick a team too closely after a game because emotions are raw," Johnson said. You want to try to consider it, and you have to see how everybody is. Ross has picked up that knock, but Flanno is obviously back in contention.

"It’s a game we think we can mix up a little bit to get the balance of minutes for players but also go and try to get into the next round.

"I’ve just got to select it to give opportunity at times and also to give us a chance to win the football match.”