Hamstring injury rules out Ferdinand

Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand could miss a month of football in another defensive blow for Steve Bruce’s side.

Ferdinand was substituted with a hamstring complaint after 10 minutes of the Black Cats’ 0-0 draw at Fulham.

It was the second time in as many league visits to Craven Cottage that Ferdinand has been injured.

Bruce said Ferdinand was also prone to picking up injuries early in matches, in what is a body blow to Sunderland over the festive period.

“That’s a big disappointment. That’s three times it’s happened to Anton in the first five minutes,” Bruce told the Sunderland Echo.

“With him out we’re a bit short defensively but we’ll have to deal with it.”

“It seems to hit us all in the one position and at the moment our centre-halves are dropping like flies.”

Centre-backs Titus Bramble and Michael Turner are also out until 2011, meaning a huge challenge is before goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to control what will be a new-look Sunderland defence.

Mignolet returned to the side and kept a clean sheet against Fulham, with the 22-year-old shot-stopper crediting his four defenders for their stern support.

“When a guy in defence drops out, it’s always difficult because you’ve trained all week with the back four and try to organise every single thing,” Mignolet said.

“Then after 10 minutes, Anton had to go off with an injury. But Ahmed (El Mohamady) came in, his concentration was good and he was up for the task.”

“The back four did well and we helped each other out which is really important.”

Sunderland face Bolton (home), Manchester United (away) and Blackpool (home) in their remaining 2010 fixtures.