What Black Cats' strongest XI will look like during upcoming AFCON

A crucial and challenging period in Sunderland's season is now fast approaching, with the club set to lose seven senior players in December for at least a fortnight and potentially around a month due to their involvement in the African Cup Of Nations.

- by Phil Smith

Here, we take a look at the options Black Cats head coach Régis Le Bris will have during that period and how the starting XI might well look, depending on whether he opts for his usual 4-3-3 system of the 5-4-1 he has deployed over the last month or so...

No issues for Sunderland here. Robin Roefs will continue in goal, with Anthony Patterson ready to deputise if necessary.

With Sunderland facing some tough opposition during this period, they'll need Roefs to continue his excellent start to the campaign if they are to keep picking up the points they need to keep them away from trouble.

Likely starter: Roefs.

One of the areas of the pitch where Sunderland will be least impacted.

The one potentially glaring issue is at left back, where both Reinildo Mandava and Arthur Masuaku will depart to represent Mozambique and DR Congo respectively.

Le Bris's options in their absence will depend largely on the recovery of Dennis Cirkin, the only other specialist left back in the squad.

The signs at the moment are very promising, with Cirkin completing 90 minutes in his third appearance of the season for the Under-21s recently.

He looks on track to be fully fit by the time the competition starts and that will be a big boost to the depth of the squad.