Butler facing injury woe

Sunderland midfielder Thomas Butler’s season could be over after a scan revealed a tear in his calf muscle.

The 21-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad last week with the problem, and now looks set to be sidelined for much of what is left of the season.

Butler’s injury is all the more galling as he had only just returned from a niggling hamstring problem which had blighted his attempt to build on his emergence into the first-team.

He did not play at all under Peter Reid’s successor Howard Wilkinson, and has appeared only once for new boss Mick McCarthy, the 2-0 defeat at West Ham last time out in which he picked up his injury.