IAN Poveda has suffered a fresh Sunderland injury setback and faces a couple of weeks on the sidelines.

Poveda has played just 44 minutes of Championship football for the Black Cats since joining in the summer and is still waiting for his first start.

He had a two-month spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury from October to December before returning to the squad and was an unused substitute in the games against Norwich and Blackburn last month.

But he was again absent at Stoke on Sunday, with Regis Le Bris now confirming Poveda has suffered a setback.

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"It was a big injury in his hamstrings," said the head coach ahead of tonight's game against Sheffield United at the Stadium of Light.

"When we pushed the intensity to 100%, he felt a little discomfort, so it's not fully healed even though he is in a good place generally.

"We just need to take care in these final rounds of his recovery. We are probably going to wait around two weeks more for him to be fully available for us."

Sunderland will also be without Chris Rigg, Dan Ballard, Romaine Mundle, Alan Browne and Tommy Watson against Sheffield United tonight, while Jenson Seelt, Ahmed Abdullahi and Niall Huggins have been long-term absentees.