Dan ruled out for three weeks with groin injury

Sunderland head coach Régis Le Bris has confirmed that Dan Ballard is set to be absent for around three weeks with a groin injury.

- by Phil Smith

The Black Cats defender suffered the injury early on in Saturday's Premier League defeat against Burnley at Turf Moor, when he was replaced by Jensen Seelt.

Le Bris also confirmed that Niall Huggins is a new injury concern after being substituted at half time in Sunderland's Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat to Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night.

"We had the diagnosis yesterday, so probably around three weeks for Dan," Le Bris said.

"Niall had an injury which is why he came off, he felt some discomfort in his groin."

Sunderland fell behind to a stunning volley from Leo Castledine, with Marc Guiu levelling late on. A miss from Milan Aleksic in sudden death secured the win for the League One side.