Fulham boss Marco Silva has confirmed that his side are set to be without Samuel Chukwueze for their trip to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland in the Premier League this weekend.
The Cottagers travel to Wearside on Sunday afternoon bidding to become the first team this season to beat the Black Cats both home and away. Marco Silva’s men ran out 1-0 winners when the two teams met in West London back in November, with a Raul Jimenez settling the contest late on.
At the time of writing, however, Fulham find themselves in the midst of a difficult patch of form, having lost four of their last five top flight outings. And if they are to arrest that slump in the North East, they will have to do so without lively winger Chukwueze.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Silva confirmed that the Nigeria international sustained a minor calf issue during a recent defeat against Manchester City, and while he has returned to training, he will not be risked on Sunday afternoon.
Silva also stated that both Sasa Lukic and Tom Cairney are now back in training too, although it is unclear as to whether either will make Fulham’s matchday squad on Wearside. The head coach said: “Sasa Lukic and Tom Cairney are back training. For one of them, it will be too soon. Samuel Chukwueze is going to be out, he picked up a knock to his calf after the Manchester City game.”
Sunderland boss Le Bris had mixed news for supporters during his own press conference on Friday.
While captain Granit Xhaka is set to make his comeback from injury against Fulham, left-back Reinildo Mandava is facing the prospect of a month on the sidelines due to a knee complaint.
Le Bris explained: “Granit has trained more or less fully this week. So he is available for selection. It won’t be the case for Bertrand, next week he will rejoin the group and then might be available soon.
“Reinildo is the only new player missing. He won’t be available for three or four weeks, so potentially after Brighton, in time for the Newcastle game. It’s a knee injury. It was during the game at home against Liverpool. He felt something in his knee, and the first diagnosis was not positive. After that, we had a second diagnosis and that was more positive, but he still needs a short period of rest to be back.”
While fully fit for selection, Le Bris also confirmed that Nordi Mukiele was currently not on long throw duty due to a hand injury. Sunderland have been taking fewer long throws in recent weeks, with Trai Hume stepping up when required.
The Black Cats head coach went on to say that he hoped Mukiele would be able to resume his duties soon. He explained: “Yes, he’s got an issue with his hand. I hope we will be close to his previous abilities [with the long throw soon].”