Sunderland have been hit with a selection setback ahead of their Championship clash with Wigan next weekend...

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Black Cats captain Corry Evans will be unavailable for their match against the Latics at the Stadium of Light after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Swansea.

The central midfielder was shown a yellow card for a challenge on Luke Trundle in the first half and that was his fifth caution of the 2022/23 campaign, which means that he is now suspended for the club's next competitive fixture.

Jack Clarke and Luke O'Nien are both currently on four yellow cards for the season and will face the same punishment if they pick up another one within the next six Championship outings.

Big blow for Tony Mowbray

The Sunderland manager will surely be frustrated by this suspension as it comes as a big blow to the team heading into their match against Wigan.

He made a late challenge whilst the team were already 1-0 down to Swansea and the manager may feel like it was a tackle that could have been avoided. It was poorly timed and the midfielder will now have to watch on from the sidelines as his side look to bounce back from four league matches without a win.

The Black Cats lost to the Welsh side after drawing their last three Championship fixtures prior to that and now come up against a Latics team who have lost three of their last four in the division.

They will be without Evans for the game and that is a setback for Mowbray because he has been an important member of the side throughout the season so far. The central midfielder has played in 12 of the 13 league matches thus far, starting 11 of those, and put a shift in defensively.

No player with at least one start has averaged more tackles per game and only Luke O'Nien has averaged more interceptions per match in the Championship for Sunderland than Evans in 2022/23. The Northern Irishman is averaging 3.7 tackles and interceptions per outing, showing that he has made a big impact on the pitch when the team is out of possession.

He has been a rock in the holding midfield position, as evidenced by his strong defensive statistics in comparison to his teammates, and the side will now be without his presence in the middle of the pitch against Wigan.

Therefore, Mowbray will be frustrated that Evans will be unavailable next weekend as losing him is a blow to Sunderland's defensive solidity.