Striker Stephane Sessegnon will miss Sunderland's Barclays Premier League clash with Stoke on Monday evening after failing in his appeal against a three-match ban.
The Benin international was shown a red card for a foul on Aston Villa's Yacouba Sylla during his side's 6-1 defeat in at Villa Park on Monday evening and will sit out the remainder of the campaign as a result.
Manager Paolo Di Canio is giving little away about his fitness concerns, but striker Connor Wickham (calf) is expected to miss out once again, while leading scorer Steven Fletcher (ankle) and skipper Lee Cattermole (knee) were ruled out of the run-in several weeks ago.
Stoke have concerns over defenders Marc Wilson and Andy Wilkinson and midfielder Glenn Whelan.
Wilson missed last weekend's win over Norwich with a hamstring problem and remains a major doubt, as do Wilkinson (back) and Whelan (groin), who were both forced off during the game.
Winger Matthew Etherington returned from a back complaint as a substitute at the Britannia Stadium last Saturday and could start.
Teams:
Sunderland (from): Mignolet, Westwood, Gardner, Bardsley, Rose, Marrs, O'Shea, Kilgallon, Bramble, Mangane, N'Diaye, Colback, McClean, Larsson, Johnson, Vaughan, Graham, Mandron, Laidler.
Stoke (from): Begovic, Sorensen, Cameron, Huth, Shawcross, Kightly, Shotton, Nzonzi, Whitehead, Etherington, Adam, Jones, Walters, Crouch, Owen, Jerome, Palacios, Shea.
Source: Sunderland-Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
