The news of early return of Adnan Januzaj has given a quintessential boost to Sunderland, who has seen a nightmarish start to the season sitting down at the basement of the Premier League table with just 2 points in the opening eight games. The Black cats are without 9 first team players and Januzaj’s return would definitely bring some air of positivity in the team.
In a press conference, David Moyes said, “Adnan is feeling much better and he doesn’t think he will be out as long as we initially thought. We played QPR the other week in the EFL Cup and we had everybody fit, aside from Seb Larsson and Vito Mannone. The other players were okay then but suddenly we are into the last couple of games and lost four or five players. We will get the injured players back, though.”
Adnan Januzaj has been on a season-long loan to Sunderland but the early signs have been anything but positive. His ankle injury initially ruled him out for six weeks until mid-November, but now Moyes expects him to make a return before time. Januzaj was injured at the end of September in Sunderland’s 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace. After undergoing a scan it was confirmed that the midfielder had suffered ankle ligament damage.
Although there has been no time frame as to when the winger might surely return, but Moyes hopes to have him back soon. Sunderland is yet to win a single game in the Premier League this season and they will be visiting West Ham for the first time in their new stadium and they is certainly not going to make things easy for them.
The injury list of Sunderland is almost long enough to make a whole new squad. The list includes Vito Mannone with an elbow injury, Lamine Kone out with a hamstring, Patrick van Aanholt with adductor and Jason Denayer with adductor too. Moyes’ midfield has been chopped in chunks in the last few weeks with injuries to Jan Kirchhoff and Lee Cattermole. Also, this list does not even include longer-term casualties Larsson with a knee injury and Fabio Borini with a thigh strain.
Adnan Januzaj has so far missed two games for Sunderland, which includes the 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion and the 2-0 defeat to Stoke City. He watched Sunderland going down to Stoke City from the stands.
Up till now, Januzaj has faced a mixed start to his Sunderland career. He has been brilliant in certain situations and has gone through bad patches like the red card against Tottenham Hotspur.
