Cape Town - Sunderland have revealed that on-loan winger Adnan Januzaj will be out of action for six weeks after injuring his ankle.
The 21-year-old picked up the knock during the Black Cats' 3-2 loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Results of a scan on Tuesday revealed the Belgian had suffered ligament damage. He joins Vito Mannone, Sebastian Larsson and Fabio Borini on the sidelines.
Mannone injured an elbow in training, striker Borini has a groin injury and Larsson is out with a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Jermain Defoe, who scored both of Sunderland's goals in their loss at the Stadium of Light, is expecting a response from his teammates after this latest setback.
Sunderland were two-nil up but conceded three second-half goals, including one in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
The club are yet to pick up a Premier League win, with their only victory coming over Queens Park Rangers in the EFL Cup.
Defoe told the club's official website: "It's important we take something from the game but it's also important for the lads to forget about last Saturday.
"We have to go back to the training pitch, work hard and try to put in the same kind of performance, and hopefully if we get a little bit of luck we will get the points that we need.
"We're improving but when you're 2-0 up and concede within 30 seconds it isn't good enough and I think all the players know that."