Sunderland and manager Tony Mowbray have been dealt another blow with the injury of a “key player” before of this evening’s Championship meeting with Watford.

What is the most recent Sunderland injury news?
The Black Cats have been in excellent form recently, winning four of their previous five games to move into the Championship playoff positions. The most recent positive performance was a 3-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, with a home game versus the Hornets on the horizon.

However, it isn’t all good news out of The Stadium of Light, though, with a new injury concern coming to light. Reliable Sunderland reporter Scott Wilson of The Northern Echo shared an injury update ahead of the meeting with Watford following Mowbray’s pre-match press conference.

It was stated that Aji Alese, Dennis Cirkin, Bradley Dack and Pierre Ekwah, players currently sidelined, will remain out of the next two games prior to the international break, whereas Mowbray has had to change his team up for tonight’s meeting due to a new injury blow to a ‘key player’.

“Without giving too much away, we had to make some tactical changes today.” You’ll see the team when it arrives, but there’s a major difference with the injury that was discovered.

“As a result, we’ve had to rearrange the team to make it work.” We had to do this to ensure that we had enough guys assaulting and defending. Otherwise, players are moving too quickly in and out of possession, and the team’s balance is off. We’ve had to do a lot of tactical stuff, but this bunch embraces it. It’s encouraging that they desire to learn.

“The challenges are always there. We have picked up an injury to a pretty key player in the way we play, but let’s just push on and see if we can keep the fluency of the team going.”

Who have been Sunderland’s best players this season?
A number of Sunderland players have impressed so far this season, with five of the squad averaging a WhoScored match rating greater than 7/10. Two of those are Dack and Ekwah, both injured, but the club’s standout performer so far has been winger Jack Clarke. The 22-year-old has scored seven goals in nine Championship games, averaging a 7.79 match rating. He is actually ranked as the top Championship player by WhoScored, whereas Dan Neil and Dan Ballard are also ranked over 7/10.

As a result, Sunderland fans will be hopeful that the injury does not affect Clarke, Neil, or Ballard, as they have been crucial to the club’s success in the early stages of the season. Mowbray clearly wants to keep the update quiet for the time being, so the team news will be intriguing to see later tonight. Following the match against Watford, Sunderland will visit Middlesbrough before the international break, where Mowbray will hopefully have a lot of players back.