Sunderland monitoring condition of defender ahead of Bolton Wanderers clash following Wigan Athletic incident

Football League World

Update emerges on Sunderland player forced off against Wigan ahead of Bolton clash

By Jordan Rushworth

Published Sep 23, 2021

Sunderland are monitoring the condition of defender Niall Huggins ahead of their meeting with Bolton Wanderers at the Stadium of Light on Saturday

Sunderland are monitoring the condition of defender Niall Huggins ahead of their meeting with Bolton Wanderers at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, according to the Northern Echo.

Huggins was handed his second start for Sunderland since making his move from Leeds United in the summer on Tuesday night as the Black Cats secured a 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic to book their place in the last 16 of the League Cup.

The 20-year-old delivered a strong performance for Sunderland during the 79 minutes he was on the field. He managed to register his first assist for the Black Cats to set up Luke O’Nien’s goal to make it 2-0 inside 54 minutes.

The full-back also managed to make one key pass, complete one successful dribble and win five duels on the night for the Black Cats. It was a performance that showed he could be ready for more involvement in League One if called upon in the coming weeks.

However, towards the end of the game, Huggins was brought off by Johnson and the 20-year-old limped off the field, although it was expected that the issue was just cramp.

According to the Northern Echo, Sunderland are now going to monitor the fitness of Huggins ahead of their clash with Bolton on Saturday. However, it is also believed that the 20-year-old is not set to be facing a long-term injury issue.

The verdict

Sunderland will be hopeful that Huggins can recover from the issue that forced him off the field against Wigan very swiftly and it seems like from this update that will be the case.

Huggins was an impressive performer at Wigan and he showed signs that he could now seriously start to challenge for his place in the side in League One over the next few weeks and months.

Johnson has so far put his faith in Carl Winchester to start at right-back for the Black Cats this term, but Huggins has a lot of quality and he showed that he can add some real extra attacking spark to the side from that position against Wigan.

Keeping fully fit is obviously going to be vital for Huggins if he wants to continue to push Winchester for his place in the side. Therefore it is important that he returns to action and if he can make the squad for the trip to Bolton that will suggest that he is over any issue and is ready to continue his improvements.