So far this season, Sunderland have managed to win 13 of their 21 played league games, drawing three and losing five, earning them 42 points and placing them in third place in the league table.

With Sunderland having had a number of injury issues to deal with for the past few weeks with the likes of Niall Huggins, Dennis Cirkin, Denver Hume, Aiden McGeady and Luke O'Nien all out, this shows how well manager Lee Johnson and the available players he's had at his disposal have done lately.

Having gone unbeaten in their five previous league games, it seems as though the Sunderland fans could have something to be excited about and look forward to during the upcoming January transfer window that could help Johnson's side make their final push for promotion.

On the subject of the January market, Johnson had this to say on the matter over the weekend.

He said: "Our aim will be to come out of the January transfer window better than we went into it. There's always a natural evolution of any squad. I think we will be able to recruit - I expect us to be able to recruit. Nobody has told me any different."

Taking this into account, it certainly sounds that Johnson will be looking to strengthen his squad in January as the Black Cats aim to finally win promotion back to the Championship after spending the previous three seasons in League One.

Given their injury issues, particularly in the defensive areas, perhaps this should be where the Wearside club look to add in the winter to make sure they don't miss out on promotion.

With this in mind, January could provide Kyril Louis-Dreyfus with a great chance of giving Johnson exactly what he needs to get Sunderland through to the end of the season and in with a chance of securing their place in the Championship for next season.

In addition to any potential new players coming in, Sunderland also have the option of recalling some of their players currently loaned out elsewhere such as Jack Diamond and Josh Hawkes, which could also give Johnson some extra options in his squad to get them over the line to promotion.

In other news: Big blow: Sunderland dealt yet another injury setback that’ll surely have fans fuming - opinion