Leeds United’s promotion rivals Sunderland have been hit with another major attacking injury blow this week, with emerging talent Tommy Watson out for at least two months.
The hectic nature of the Championship fixture list perhaps gets most emphasised during the month of December, as Leeds look to wrestle control of the automatic promotion race following a win over Middlesbrough.
With the busy schedule comes injury setbacks and fitness concerns for each team in the division, and Leeds are hoping that their crisis has been now concluded amidst other clubs’ struggles.
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Sunderland suffer latest new blow: Tommy Watson out for two months
When Sunderland lost Jack Clarke in the summer, many thought that would have been a hammer blow to Regis Le Bris’ chances of mounting a promotion charge at the Stadium of Light.
His immediate replacement though, Romaine Mundle had been outstanding on the left wing up until his injury layoff, now three weeks into an eight-week layoff alongside midfielder Alan Browne.
The latest off the conveyor belt of talent inn the North East has been 18-year-old Tommy Watson, whose brace last weekend secured Sunderland’s first win in seven games, described by the NTT20 podcast host Ali Maxwell as “the closest ‘regen’ of Jack Clarke you could possibly imagine”:
However, Watson is the latest to join Sunderland’s injury list when Le Bris confirmed a knee and ankle injury will keep him sidelined for two months:
🗣️ RLB on Tommy Watson:
'He will need two months to recover. It's both his knee and ankle…'
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Tommy 👊 pic.twitter.com/CSKdnieBNN
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) December 12, 2024
Such an absence would have Watson returning in time to be in contention for Sunderland’s trip to Elland Road on February 17.
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Sunderland’s squad depth being tested as form dips behind Leeds
This period of the season is where we start to see the sides that have what it takes to stay in the race for the top two.
Sunderland can be reasonably be expected to fight for promotion this season, but they’ve having to lean quite heavily on an 18-year-old winger for inspiration and now he’s injured for a while.
How they react to this will be quite telling, because a lot of their attacking quality has come down the left this season through Mundle and Watson.