IN a rare turn of events, Sunderland have no new injury concerns with Carl Winchester facing a late fitness test to be involved in tomorrow’s League One clash with Sheffield Wednesday.

The Northern Irish midfielder has been an ever present in the Black Cats team this season with 27 appearances and three goals. His performances have even seen the 28-year-old called up to the National side.

Winchester missed Monday’s 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers with a knock he picked up in training but he has been given a 50-50 chance of being involved in tomorrow’s match at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland are already desperately short on numbers in the squad with a number of long term injuries to several key players. The likes of Aiden McGeady, Luke O’Nien, Niall Huggins and most recently Nathan Broadhead are all out of action for a number of months.

Despite that, Sunderland are on an eight match unbeaten run in League One and currently sit second in the table.

Manager Lee Johnson expected Winchester’s injury to be a short recovery but the midfielder faces a race to be fit in time for the game.

Johnson said: "Winchester is 50-50 and we are trying to wait as long as possible before making that decision.

“He will have a fitness test tomorrow (Thursday) to see how he is, but Winnie is a pretty good healer and hopefully it won’t be too long.”

The Sunderland squad are also managing the surge of Covid cases across the UK with three confirmed cases on Monday for Aiden O’Brien, young forward Ellis Taylor and the injured Jordan Willis. The boss is expecting one of those players to be ready for the visit of the Owls.

“We expect Aiden O’Brien to be out of isolation on Thursday” Johnson added.

“We have no fresh concerns after the trip to Doncaster and at the moment, we are grateful to get through any games without any extra injuries because we are thin.

“Sometimes that makes things a little easier – players know they are playing, the team is performing and the manager doesn’t have too many options to rotate – so there are benefits.

“We have to show a good attitude towards it and have a positive mentality, focussing on what we have available and finding solutions to ensure we are effective in the game.”

Sunderland have been plagued with injuries all season meaning it’s almost certain that the club will be conducting business in the January transfer window next month.