Sunderland’s hopes of avoiding the drop have suffered a huge blow after midfielder Jan Kirchoff was ruled out for two months with a hamstring injury.
David Moyes’ side have failed to win any of their opening seven league matches this season and are already in real trouble having lost Steven Pienaar and Adnan Januzaj to injury.
Kirchoff proved a vital player in their bid to beat the drop last season after signing from Bayern Munich in January but the defensive midfielder has struggled with injuries since the end of last season and is now ruled out for a further two months.
The 26-year-old pulled his hamstring in their 1-1 draw with West Brom at the weekend and Moyes has labelled it as a ‘big’ loss for Sunderland.
“Not to have him, Steven Pienaar and Adnan Januzaj is massive, because they help us play better and we are short in that area, they are big, big misses to this club,” The Daily Mirror quotes Moyes as saying.
“Lose Kirch and lose Catts [Lee Cattermole], we lose a little bit of the steel and a little bit of the boys who have been here before while we’re looking to build a new team.”
Sunderland’s win ratio drops from 22.2% with Kirchoff in the team to 18.5% without him in the starting XI in the Premier League in the last two seasons.
For more stats on Jan Kirchoff, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
