Sunderland have suffered another huge injury blow after Victor Anichebe was ruled out for three months with knee ligament damage.
The big striker ruptured his medial ligament in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at The Hawthorns against his old club West Bromwich Albion. He suffered the injury in a block tackle just minutes after he entered the action as a substitute, making his comeback from the hamstring injury that had sidelined him since New Year’s Eve.
He will spend the next six weeks in a knee action for a total of 12 weeks, which would rule him out until mid-April.
Losing Anichebe is a major problem for Sunderland, whose best spell of the season – the run of four wins in seven games in November and December – came when the powerhouse forward was introduced into the starting XI as introduced into the starting XI to add some physical presence and provide a target to aim at in the final third of the pitch.
The injury has also denied the forward a chance to stage a comeback to the senior national team of Nigeria as he was supposed to be in the squad for the friendly against Senegal in March, after productive talks with new coach Gernot Rohr last year.
