Sunderland missing six players for Championship meeting against Huddersfield Town

Niall Huggins, Ross Stewart, Daniel Ballard, Aji Alese and Lynden Gooch are all expected to be sidelined. Ellis Simms made his return from injury against Luton Town last weekend after recovering from ligament damage.

The Everton loanee is set to play some part against Huddersfield on Wednesday but that is likely to be no more than a second-half cameo following his 19 minutes against the Hatters.

Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray explained: “Similar sort of stuff. Probably ten minutes more on Wednesday night (against Huddersfield). The game will dictate of course.

“To give him game time, to get his boots on and to get him feeling more confident in himself is what I would say. He is a young boy even though he looks a huge man on the pitch. The confidence to know that the injury is going to be fine and he’s got to work really hard.

"By working hard, he can get his general fitness up so he can start thinking about starting a game. It will be after the international break before you see him play 90 minutes in my mind.”

Stewart, Ballard and Alese are all likely to be ruled out until after the World Cup break while Huggins recently featured for Sunderland’s youth side while Gooch has been absent for the last two games.

Mowbray provided an update on Stewart and Ballard in his pre-match press conference on Monday, saying: “Ross was on the training pitch today with the physios. Just good to see him with his boots on and kicking a football which is telling me he is not far away.

“Dan Ballard has been out there for a few days running with the physios. It’s good to know that somewhere around the corner, we are going to have lots more options to pick from.”

Jack Clarke will miss the trip to west Yorkshire through suspension. The midfielder picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Luton at the weekend.