Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris has received “positive” assessments of injuries sustained by Noah Sadiki and Omar Alderete on international duty, but said it was too early to say whether both will be fit for Saturday’s match against Wolves.
Sadiki had to withdraw from the Democratic Republic of Congo squad that competed in World Cup qualifying in midweek, while Alderete suffered an undisclosed muscle problem during Paraguay’s international friendly defeat to South Korea.
Both men made impressive starts to their careers on Wearside and there were fears they could be sidelined for long periods.
Sadiki and Alderete could be in good shape for the weekend
However, Le Bris indicated that neither had suffered any major setbacks and could even be ready for the weekend’s clash at the Stadium of Light.
On midfielder Sadiki, he said: “We checked Noah yesterday and he seems fine. We will see after training today and tomorrow if he will be available for this weekend – but we are positive.
“It’s still possible that his injury is worse than we think, but at the moment he’s doing well. He’s had this injury before, so he knows how it’s progressing and how serious it is. It’s positive at the moment, but we’ll see.”
He added of former Getafe centre-back Alderete: “Omar has just got off a 20-hour flight, so we will see. We will evaluate him again this afternoon. We already had a conversation with him yesterday, which was positive. We just have to wait a bit to evaluate him.”
Their availability could be vital for a Sunderland side who looked relatively comfortable on their return to the top flight, although their momentum stalled slightly with a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United before the international break.
Wolves will provide another indication of Sunderland’s progress. Vitor Pereira’s side are yet to win in the Premier League this season but have performed well in their last two games and were only denied victory by late goals from Spurs and Brighton.
Le Bris said: “They struggled at the start of this season, but they showed they were really competitive in their last two games. They didn’t win, but they deserved to win against Brighton and Tottenham because they played well.
“They have good players, good energy and they are well coached. That’s exactly the way of the Premier League, you can struggle even if you are strong. If you don’t take your opportunities you will be punished, so hopefully we can score twice and win this game.
“I expect it to be a tough challenge.”
Ballard likely to be involved for Sunderland
Northern Ireland defender Dan Ballard is likely to play a part on Saturday, particularly if Alderete is ruled out, and will hope to build on his man-of-the-match performance against Germany in midweek.
“He was very close to our team at the start of this season, but after that he got injured and another player came in and played well,” Le Bris said. “It was good news for our team because you need competition at this level to push the players.
“He’s playing at a high level and he’s always ready to play, so that’s always positive for a manager.”
