SUNDERLAND'S mini-revival has been rocked by the news Christian Bassila will be out of action for up to six weeks, meaning he is likely to miss the first Tyne-Wear derby for more than two years.

After extensive assessment on the hamstring injury he sustained in the first half of Saturday's draw with West Ham, Bassila has been told he is facing up to at least a month on the sidelines.

It is a cruel blow to Sunderland, who have shown they can adapt to life in the Premiership since the Frenchman's arrival from Strasbourg in August.

The Black Cats had lost all four matches in the top-flight before Bassila was signed on a free transfer shortly before the closure of the transfer window.

Although they suffered a fifth defeat at Chelsea on his debut, Sunderland have since gone on a four-match unbeaten run and climbed out of the bottom three.

There is a strong chance it could be mid-November before he is playing in a Sunderland shirt again.

The news is not an ideal birthday present - he is 28 tomorrow - for the former West Ham man, who has slotted in well to manager Mick McCarthy's style of play.

Bassila is fortunate that the two international breaks within the next month or so restrict the number of matches he will miss. "It's a bit sore at the moment but hopefully I won't be out too long."

Bassila's injury means McCarthy will have to rethink his options in the middle of the pitch, meaning Tommy Miller and Dean Whitehead could be asked to share the defensive duties more often.

After Bassila's withdrawal nine minutes before half-time against West Ham, Miller and Whitehead's tireless running helped to give Sunderland the platform to attack from.

Providing the pair can perform similarly in their next match against Manchester United a week on Saturday, it is likely to be that pairing who form the middle of midfield against Newcastle on October 23.

One player also likely to be available for both the home clash with the Red Devils and the trip to St James' Park is out-of-sorts striker Jon Stead.

Stead did not even make the substitutes bench on Saturday. The £1.8m summer buy from Blackburn was suffering from a hip problem and, although he is still struggling for fitness, he has joined up with the England Under-21 squad for this week's internationals.

Peter Taylor's squad play Austria at Elland Road on Friday and Poland a week today as they look to topple Germany from the top of their European Championship qualifying group.

The two countries are level on points and the hope is Stead will be fit enough to play at least some part of the second game - if not the first.

That means Stead will almost certainly be available for the eagerly-awaited visit of Manchester United to Wearside and he should be joined in the squad that day by Julio Arca.

Arca missed the West Ham game with a swollen toe but expects to have shrugged it off before the visit of the former Premiership champions.

* Sunderland have taken Arsenal up on their offer of a full 3,000 allocation of tickets for the trip to Highbury on November 5.

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