Patrick Roberts out of Sunderland games against Stoke & Middlesbrough

PATRICK ROBERTS has been ruled of Sunderland’s weekend game with Stoke City – and the winger is also expected to

be unavailable for the Tees-Wear derby with Middlesbrough at the start of next month.

Roberts has been sidelined since suffering a calf injury in the early stages of the 1-1 draw at Rotherham United between Christmas and New Year.

He has missed Sunderland’s last four matches, and will not be involved when

Stoke visit the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

It is hoped he will be able to return to training in the back end of next week, but that would still make unlikely to feature against Middlesbrough at the Riverside in ten days’ time.

Sunderland head coach Michael Beale has ruled out the possibility of any other injured players returning for the Stoke game.

“There’s no change with the injury situation,” Beale declared. Pat is expected to resume training by the end of the following week or the beginning of the following week.

Nevertheless, he will regrettably still miss the next few games.