Sunderland’s Reid suffers fresh setback

Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid faces another month out of action following his latest hamstring injury, the English Premier League club announced Wednesday.

Reid, who spent four weeks on the sidelines after Christmas with a hamstring injury that saw him miss three games, suffered his latest setback in a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth eight days ago.

“Unfortunately Andy has suffered a new hamstring injury,” Sunderland club doctor Glen Rae told the club’s official website.

“He is working with the medical team, but is likely to be missing from training for around four weeks.”

Reid could now miss Sunderland’s next five league games, starting with Saturday’s match at Arsenal before missing fixtures with Fulham, Aston Villa, Bolton and Manchester City.

Meanwhile Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones said his commitment to the club could not be faulted after what the Trinidad and Tobago forward labelled a “disturbing” January that saw him repeatedly linked with a transfer window move to Liverpool.

Jones said he had nothing to do with the reports, telling the Newcastle Journal: “I didn’t have any part to play in that whole situation.

“There were stories going back and forth that were disturbing.

“There is no possible way you can avoid reading anything in the papers, but you try and lock yourself away from it as much as possible.

“If you noticed during all of this stuff I never came out and gave any indication I wanted to leave, that I was unhappy or anything like that.

“For me, that assumption is a bit far-fetched. There was a lot of stuff being said by whoever and you can’t stop that.

“All I can do to prove I am committed to Sunderland is by showing it in games, and hopefully people can see it with their own eyes now.

“It’s nice to hear the fans singing my name in the last two or three games, but I think they have been doing it most of the season.

“It’s great to know they recognise that when I wear a Sunderland shirt I give it 100 percent.

“I don’t think the fans had any reason to believe I was behind these rumours, or that I wanted to leave.”

Sunderland are currently 13th in the table but only three points above the relegation zone.