Exclusive: Lee Hendrie on factor that prevented Sunderland maintaining Leeds, Sheffield United, Burnley challenge | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie reflects whether Sunderland could have pushed for the top two without injuries to the likes of Enzo Le Fee, Trai Hume and Dennis Cirkin.

Sunderland are firmly in the mix for promotion back to the Premier League this season, and are almost guaranteed a shot of this in the play-offs.

Despite a stuttering run of form under Regis Le Bris that has seen the Black Cats win just two of their last five second tier games, the Wearside outfit are still well-established inside the top six, sitting 12 points clear of seventh-placed Bristol City.

However, Sunderland also remain 11 points off Sheffield United, who currently occupy a place in the top two, so it appears the club will already be preparing for the lottery of the play-off competition, with this their only route to a return to the top-flight.

Sunderland have regularly impressed in the Championship, with such a consistent level of form over the course of the season guiding them to the position they find themselves in currently, but the club has also been hampered by a number of key injuries to important first-team players given the relentless nature of a second-tier term.

On-loan Roma attacker Enzo Le Fee had shown so much promise to be a livewire at this level, but the winger has been missing since February with a hamstring injury.

On top of this, Trai Hume has aggravated a hip injury that led to him playing no part in Northern Ireland’s recent international clash with Sweden, while Dennis Cirkin has been sidelined for three weeks after sustaining a problem in their defeat to Coventry prior to the break. The former's issue, though, is not thought to be as bad as initially feared.

With this in mind, pundit Lee Hendrie has reflected on Sunderland’s lack of luck on the injury front, and discussed whether Sunderland would have been in contention for the top two had they managed to keep a fully fit squad.

Lee Hendrie believes Sunderland could have been top two contenders with a fully fit squad

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Lee Hendrie believes Sunderland would have had a stronger chance of putting themselves into automatic promotion contention with a clean bill of health, but insisted it would still have been tough to battle it out against the current top three.

Hendrie said: "It always gives you a massive chance when you have a full-strength squad and having all your players to pick from, particularly with the likes of Enzo Le Fee, who has been mentioned as a very big player for Sunderland.

"I’m not sure they’d have been nailed on if all their players were fit and available, but it would have certainly given them a chance for automatic promotion. There’s no doubt about that.

"You have to look at the other strong sides in the league though, such as Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds, so I’m not sure they were nailed on for the top two with all of the players ready and available, but they’ve proved a lot of people wrong this season."

Sunderland injuries will be a frustration this season

Given the hectic scheduling of the Championship, every team in the league is going to pick up injuries, but Sunderland have been particularly unfortunate with the number of issues they’ve had to cope with to such key cogs of the Regis Le Bris machine.

The absences of the likes of Enzo Le Fee is likely to have contributed to their drop-off in the race for the top two due to the lack of firepower, while the likes of Trai Hume and Dennis Cirkin add hard-working and creative presences on the flanks to help make the Black Cats more free-flowing moving forward.

These injury lay-offs have been detrimental to Sunderland carrying on the positive momentum they have generated this season, but they have left themselves a healthy enough points gap away from the play-off-chasing teams to go through this tough period with minimal anxiety.

There’s no doubt Sunderland could have been top two contenders with the quality they possess in the squad, but the focus now will be getting these sorts of players raring to go to attack the play-offs and still have a successful season.