John Mensah's return to action for Sunderland could be interrupted once again after he picked up an injury that makes him a doubt for their weekend game against Wigan Athletic.

Mensah has played two games since he recovered from an injury that ruled him out of the Nations Cup for Ghana in Angola but he has picked up another hamstring injury that will add to the growing frustration of not just the player but his club boss Steve Bruce and national team coach Milovan Rajevac.

Mensah sustained the injury during the 0-0 draw with Stoke on Monday and has failed to train in the build-up to this Wigan game.

He was receiving treatment as the rest of the Sunderland squad trained on Wednesday and manager Steve Bruce has confirmed the Ghanaian international could well miss out.

Mensah has played in Sunderland's last two fixtures - only the third time he has played in back-to-back games since joining on loan from Lyon in the summer.

He has started seven games overall, making a further two appearances off the bench and scoring once.

The fear is that the injuries will affect Mensah's chances of sealing a permanent move when his loan deal expires.