Adam Matthews suffered an injury in Sunderland's win over Exeter City.

Matthews was unable to complete the full 90 minutes in Tuesday night's 6-3 win in the League Cup, withdrawn after less than an hour and replaced by American youngster Lynden Gooch, the 19-year-old making his first team debut for the Black Cats.

The right-back has been on the fringes of the Sunderland squad since arriving at the club this summer, and the cup clash gave him a chance to impress and force his name into his manager's thoughts for the next game, but instead it ended prematurely due to the niggle.

Injuries plagued Matthews' Celtic career

The 23-year-old has struggled with injuries in the past, with them the main reason for him being unable to fulfil his potential at Celtic. Matthews missed a total of 43 games over the course of the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons north of the border due to injury, the most significant being a hamstring problem that saw him absent for 14 matches.

However, he has kept fit over the course of the summer and has missed only one game since the start of April, seemingly turning a corner in the bad luck that has troubled him recently.

The extent of this injury sustained, however, is not yet known, but Sunderland will hope it is just a minor one with their defence lacking strength or depth at the moment, which has caused the team to concede 11 goals in their first four games of the season.

Set-back for Sunderland and for Wales

Not only would a more-than-minor problem for Matthews be a blow for the Black Cats, but also for the defender's country, Wales.

Chris Coleman, manager of the Welsh national team, is set to announce his squad for the next two 2016 European Championships qualifiers later today, and one would expect Matthews to be one of the 23 players included.

However, his boss could be without the versatile right-back for a trip to Cyprus and a home match against Israel, both of which take place in the first week of September.

Likewise, Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat may not have Matthews available for selection this weekend when his team visit Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.

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About the author
Ameé Ruszkai
Head of the Sunderland, Swansea City and women football sections at VAVEL UK. Email: [email protected]