Sunderland's suspension trouble

Struggling Sunderland are hit by a trio of suspensions in the chase of a first home win of the season against in-form Tottenham at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.

Stephen Wright, sent off in the 2-0 defeat at West Ham last Saturday on his return to action since the opening day of the season, misses out along with Dean Whitehead and Stephen Caldwell – who have picked up five yellow cards.

Nyron Nosworthy or Justin Hoyte will replace Wright, 20-year-old Grant Leadbitter stands by for his first Premiership start in midfield while Danny Collins is set to return to central defence. New signing Rory Delap is again ruled out with an Achilles injury.

Provisional squad: Davis, J Murphy, Nosworthy, Hoyte, McCartney, Breen, D Collins, Lawrence, Miller, Bassila, Leadbitter, Stead, Le Tallec, Kyle, Arca, N Collins, Woods, J Murphy.