SUNDERLAND will discover the full extent of Connor Wickham's knee injury later today, but the striker last night suggested the problem is not as serious as first feared.

Having damaged his knee in the opening stages of Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Manchester United, Wickham had a series of scans yesterday afternoon.

They will be assessed by the club's medical staff this morning, with manager Steve Bruce desperately hoping for some positive news.

Having previously lost both David Meyler and Fraizer Campbell to ligament injuries that sidelined them for the best part of a season, it was initially feared that Wickham had suffered a similarly debilitating setback.

Bruce talked of "a serious knee injury" in his after-match press conference at Old Trafford, but Wickham eased those fears last night.

Speaking on Twitter, he said: "Scans showing injury not as bad as first thought, waiting to see a knee specialist later in the week."

Whatever happens, he is expected to be unavailable for a period of weeks, if not months, but it is hoped he will not be forced out of the majority of the remainder of the campaign.

As expected, however, the 18-year-old was formally withdrawn from the England Under-21 squad for matches against Iceland and Belgium yesterday.

While Wickham will not be on international duty this week, his Sunderland team-mate, Keiren Westwood, has travelled to the Republic of Ireland for his homeland's two biggest matches of the last two years.

Ireland take on Estonia in a two-legged play-off for a place at next summer's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, with the first leg due to take place in Tallinn on Friday night.

Westwood is the main reserve to established first-choice Shay Given, and the Black Cats shot-stopper is hoping to be part of an historical few days for the Ireland squad.

"It's a massive game for the whole country," said Westwood. "I would love to come back to Sunderland in the next two weeks knowing we have qualified for the Euros. It would be fantastic because we are a good solid outfit and we deserve to be involved in something like that.

"I could not explain what it would be like in Ireland if we qualified. They will have some party - I know that.

"The fans deserve to have us in the finals, they have waited for a long time and they have all been fantastic for us. The Aviva will be sold out for the game (next Tuesday), it will be bouncing."We are the favourites, we have not been that before so it's something we will have to get used to. But we are strong and we have to thrive on the pressure and make sure we qualify."

John O'Shea has been ruled out of Friday's first leg with a hamstring injury, but Ireland's medical staff are hoping he will be available for Tuesday's return game in Dublin.

* The Football Association have confirmed that Seb Larsson will miss the Sunderland's home game with Fulham on Saturday, November 19 after picking up his fifth booking of the season at Old Trafford.