Alex Pritchard set to miss out for Sunderland with ankle injury

Sunderland are set to be without midfielder Alex Pritchard for Tuesday night’s Sky Bet League One clash with Fleetwood.

Pritchard limped off with an ankle injury towards the end of Saturday’s goalless draw at Charlton and the Black Cats are still assessing the extent of his injury.

However boss Alex Neil has already intimated that Pritchard could be ruled out for the foreseeable future, striking a huge blow to their promotion push.

Jermain Defoe and Leon Dajeku missed the London trip with minor injuries and could come back into contention, while Luke O’Nien is nearing recovery from shoulder injury.

Fleetwood are still without striker Joe Garner as they look to end a run of nine games without a win at the Stadium of Light.

Saturday’s loss to Ipswich left Stephen Crainey’s men just two points clear of the relegation zone and badly needing a quick turnaround in fortunes.

The respective returns of the likes of Ellis Harrison and Carl Johnson eased the Cod Army’s lengthy injury list ahead of the Ipswich clash.

But Josh Harrop, Jordan Rossiter, Daniel Batty, Brad Halliday and Harrison Holgate remained sidelined and it remains to be seen if any will return to bolster the club’s survival fight.