AJI ALESE is an early doubt for Sunderland’s weekend trip to Norwich City after an injury forced him off at the half-time interval of Saturday’s thrashing at the hands of Stoke City.

With his side trailing at the half-time interval at the weekend, Tony Mowbray opted to make two changes at the break, with Alese and Joe Gelhardt both departing.

Gelhardt’s replacement was a tactical decision, with Mowbray wanting to take the Leeds United loanee out of the firing line and get Amad Diallo higher up the pitch, but the Black Cats boss has confirmed that Alese’s failure to reappear for the second half was because of an injury issue.

The hope is that by removing the full-back at the earliest opportunity, Mowbray will have reduced the risk of him sustaining any long-term damage. However, he will have to be monitored this week ahead of Sunday’s televised game at Carrow Road.

“Aji was injured, so he had to come off,” said the Black Cats boss, who saw his side fall six points adrift of the play-off positions as they were beaten 5-1 by Stoke. “That’s disappointing, and I’m not quite sure how bad that’s going to be.

“With young Gelhardt, I just think the confidence is low and I didn’t want to expose him. I wanted to get Amad higher up the pitch because we’ve done that with relative success in the past.

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“Edouard (Michut) was unfortunate not to start the game, so that seemed the obvious one for me. But the left-back situation was enforced.”

Sunderland have been without two of their leading full-back options for the last few weeks, but there is a chance that both Lynden Gooch and Dennis Cirkin could be available to face Norwich.

Gooch has been sidelined since mid-January because of a hip injury, but he is due to step up his training this week and should be in the running for a return to first-team action at the weekend.

Speaking ahead of the Stoke game, Mowbray said: “If he can have a full week of proper training, then there should be a chance of him being in contention for Norwich.”

Sunderland have been treading carefully with Dennis Cirkin, who has been suffering from the after-effects of the concussion he suffered in the 1-1 draw at Millwall. However, the intention is also to step up Cirkin’s training programme this week.