Lamine Kone will remain on Wearside during the international break to focus on recovering from a knee injury.
Initially selected by the Ivory Coast, the defensive colossus has been forced to withdraw from the squad after missing Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Burnley.
Speaking to safc.com, David Moyes revealed that he hopes to have Kone available for selection when the Black Cats travel to Watford.
“On Thursday – at the end of training – we were doing some heading practice and he just twisted his knee,” said the Sunderland boss.
“We’ve had it scanned and there’s nothing there so it looks like days or a week rather than anything else, but obviously it was a big miss against Burnley because we knew what we were facing up front.”
He added: “I hope to have him back in days – maybe a week – I saw him on Friday and he was limping with it, but we know there’s no damage or anything which needs any work.”