Teemu Tainio and George McCartney will miss Sunderland's Carling Cup third-round home tie with Northampton on Tuesday night.
Finland international midfielder Tainio injured his shoulder in the Wearsiders' 2-0 defeat of Middlesbrough on Saturday and is not available, while left-back McCartney is cup-tied after playing in West Ham's 4-1 win over Macclesfield in the previous round.
Michael Chopra, who replaced Tainio just before half-time on Saturday and went on to score twice in the second half, has shaken off a dead leg and will be in Sunderland's squad but striker Kenwyne Jones (knee) and goalkeeper Darren Ward (back) remain on Roy Keane's injury list.
Northampton manager Stuart Gray will be without on-loan striker Karl Hawley.
Hawley is cup-tied having appeared for parent club Preston in the competition already this season so Leon Constantine could come back into the side alongside Adebayo Akinfenwa.
Akinfenwa was the hero in the last round as his brace saw the Cobblers record a famous win at Bolton but Gray's side have failed to win since.
Captain Chris Doig is definitely out as he struggles to return from a groin injury but Gray has no other injury concerns.
His biggest selection dilemma is whether to keep faith with rookie goalkeeper Chris Dunn at the Stadium of Light.
The 20-year-old has been handed the gloves since the club-record sale of Mark Bunn to Blackburn last month but he made a horrendous error in the defeat at Huddersfield on Saturday so Frank Fielding could come in for his debut.
Sunderland (from): Gordon, Fulop, Chimbonda, Nosworthy, Ferdinand, Collins, Bardsley, Diouf, Whitehead, Leadbitter, Miller, Reid, Richardson, Malbranque, Cisse, Murphy, Chopra, Healy, Stokes.