Sunderland have suffered yet another injury blow with the news that German midfielder Jan Kirchhoff has seen his knee injury return, keeping him out for a minimum of six further weeks.
The news comes despite Kirchhoff's recent improvements on the treatment table.
Kirchhoff's injury woes continue
Kirchhoff was originally injured during the Black Cats' Premier League match against Chelsea back in December, and although things looked to have been improving recently this latest setback comes as a huge blow not just to the player but also to David Moyes.
Moyes said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's game against Burnley that he hoped that the break after the Manchester City defeat would "give us a chance to get Kirchhoff and couple of others back."
The Scotsman revealed that the re-occurrence of Kirchhoff's knee problem "looks like it’s going to keep him out for a minimum of six weeks" and added that it came after his appearance for the Sunderland U23s last week, as "his knee swelled up immediately after" the game.
The small positive that Moyes took from the 26-year-old's trip to the surgeon is that there is no real damage, but that the injury is "going to take longer than we’d first hoped for it to heal."
Positive news as Moyes confirms Anichebe could return soon
Alongside Kirchhoff, Moyes is also without Duncan Watmore, Paddy McNair and Lee Cattermole who have all been out of action for some time now.
The Sunderland boss can only cross his fingers and hope they return earlier than expected with his squad short on numbers.
There was some good news with regards to Victor Anichebe however, who Moyes believes could be back in action "this weekend or next weekend" after he visited a specialist in the USA recently.
"My aim was to get him back for as much of April as I can", said Moyes, who faces an almost impossible task in keeping Sunderland afloat especially given the incredibly thin squad he has on his hands heading into the final 11 games of the season.