"He has a problem" - Sunderland AFC boss Regis Le Bris drops Tommy Watson update | OneFootball

A leg injury forced the winger off early against Bristol City.

Regis Le Bris has provided an injury update on Tommy Watson after the 18-year-old winger was forced off with a leg injury less than 25 minutes into Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Bristol City.

It's been a rollercoaster four or five days for the Academy of Light product. Watson netted a brace on Saturday to steer his boyhood side to a comeback 2-1 victory over Stoke City.

All the praise and plaudits were heading his way after he singlehandedly delivered three points for the Black Cats on Saturday, with comparisons to ex-Sunderland winger Jack Clarke being made by some.

He was riding high, with the hope that the great performance against the Potters would be followed up by another outstanding showing. Those hopes were de-railed pretty quickly though.

A tackle from Zak Vyner forced Watson to stay down on the deck and receive treatment. He tried to push on through the pain, but ultimately couldn't continue and was taken off before the 25-minute mark.

The substitution didn't work out too badly for Sunderland though, as his replacement, Patrick Roberts, came on to level the scores late on, handing the Black Cats a late point, keeping them not too far away from the spots.

Regis Le Bris' Tommy Watson injury update

Sunderland's head coach said after the game that he wasn't yet sure what the extent of Watson's injury was. He believed that the teenager's withdrawal from the game had a negative effect on the team because of the attributes they lost when he went off.

Watson's new knock adds to a growing list of injury problems for the Black Cats, including fellow left-winger Romaine Mundle, whose hamstring injury is set to keep him out until after the turn of the year.

"With Tommy, we don't have a diagnosis, so we will have to wait," Le Bris said, via the Northern Echo. "At the moment, he has a problem both with the ankle and the knee. But we don't know how serious.

"We missed Tommy, because the wingers are important against this type of defence. It is one of our main strengths to pin (the defence) inside, we can create space or switch the play. And a quick winger, good 1-v-1, can break this kind of defence.

"We were unlucky with Tommy, and we might have to find a solution now."

January is going to be an important month for Sunderland

Even though some of their talent is expected to come back around the new year, or are already on their way back to full fitness, there may be a feeling that as long as they wait it out and don't pick up any more problems they won't need to be too active in January.

Well that'd be alright if they had some guarantee that they will be back in the promotion hunt next season if they miss out on it this time around. That's not the case though.

This opportunity has come unexpectedly, at least to us on the outside of things. Sunderland will kick themselves if they let it slip through their fingers because they failed to address a depth issue when they could have.