DENNIS CIRKIN has suffered an injury setback that is expected to keep him on the sidelines for a number of weeks.

Cirkin has only made three substitute appearances since the start of September because of an ongoing hamstring problem that is proving difficult to fix.

The defender attempted to step up his training schedule over the festive period, but was forced to scale things back down when he suffered more pain.

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As a result, he has been sent for another series of scans that look like ruling him out of first-team action for another prolonged spell.

Sunderland boss Michael Beale also expects to be without Bradley Dack for at least two or three weeks, with the summer signing from Blackburn Rovers having suffered a hamstring injury in the Boxing Day win at Hull City.

“Bradley and Dennis aren't going to be available, we're going to be missing them for a while,” said Beale. “Bradley has a hamstring injury that will be around four weeks at best, but that's probably the best possible diagnosis that we could have got.

“Dennis didn't feel quite right when he came back to training and so we're going to go through the process of getting the scans, and then we'll give feedback when we can.”

There is better news on Jay Matete, with the midfielder having returned to action with Sunderland’s Under-21s.

“Jay is training and has been for a while,” said Beale. “He got 45 minutes in an Under-21s game, but he just hasn't been selected for the last couple of games. So, he's available for selection.”