EVEN with a list of absentees that has hovered around the double figure mark for the majority of the season, David Moyes has been keen to avoid using that as an excuse for failure at Sunderland.

Perhaps it is because he doesn’t need to; after all the list, which currently stands at nine following the addition of Jordan Pickford to it this week, paints its own picture.

Sunderland have a lack of options, notable from the youngsters on the bench, and those will be reduced further in January when the African contingent head off to the Cup of Nations.

Nevertheless the task of trying to preserve Premier League status will remain, so Moyes does not want anything to detract from the challenge facing the players he does have around.

“I won’t use injuries as an excuse because I still want my players to win games and I expect them to win games - even if there are only 11, 12 or 13 of them,” said Moyes, who this week confirmed Pickford will miss the next couple of months with a knee injury.

“I don’t want them saying the gaffer is moaning about missing players, and using that as an excuse for themselves.

“At the moment, we’ve had quite a good six or seven weeks, Swansea apart, we’ve played decently against the big teams and the games that we have had to win, we have won. We’ve started to win a few and that’s made all the difference.

“This is why I think this is a big game for us against Burnley because we could close the gap to three points or it could go to something like nine points - it’s a big game for us to get a good result.”

Sunderland hope Javier Manquillo, Steven Pienaar and Jack Rodwell will be fit enough to make the bench at Turf Moor; failing that they should at least be around after Monday’s visit of Liverpool.

Moyes said: “There’s not much we could do about Paddy McNair or Duncan Watmore doing their cruciates during a game. There’s little you do about Jordan Pickford’s or Lynden Gooch’s in football games.

“Lee Cattermole probably needed an operation in the summer, we missed Seb Larsson at the start of the season, Jan Kirchhoff hurt himself during a game but we’d virtually missed him from the start - five or six big injuries. If there’s something we could have done to avoid those injuries, we would have done.”

If Sunderland win at Burnley they can climb out of the bottom three but, as Middlesbrough found out on Boxing Day, a trip to Turf Moor has been difficult for a lot of teams this season.

Moyes said: “Burnley is a key game, they’ve done very well at home. We have to try to make sure that we get something from it. It’s an important game and we’re aware that they have been very good at home.

“I think they have the advantage of a continuation of roughly the same team - they went down and came back up and didn’t change the team much.

“They have players who know each other well and they are a proper team. It takes time to build up a team and I think that’s an advantage they have.”

Top scorer Jermain Defoe, wanted by West Ham, has at least hinted he is in no rush to leave Sunderland to return to London.

Defoe’s goals have effectively given the Black Cats a chance of staying up, just as they did last season, but Moyes is keen to fend off a £6m offer from the Hammers.

And Defoe said: “There’s going to be speculation because, let’s be honest, the people that score goals are wanted. Over the years anyone that has scored goals has been talked about in terms moving to different clubs.

“I think it’s just part and parcel of football. The players don’t really get involved you just get your head down and you play football.

“It’s a good feeling to be wanted but when you’re playing well and scoring goals then you must be enjoying being at the place you’re at.”