Leicester City sit at the top of the Championship table, with a six points gap to second-placed Leeds United.
12 games remain of the gruelling campaign and the end goal of making an immediate return back to the Premier League is in sight.
Enzo Maresca‘s side have suffered back-to-back defeats in the second-tier but secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Tuesday.
Abdul Fatawu‘s wondergoal in the 105th minute was enough to defeat Premier League outfit Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
City play host to relegation-threatened Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, followed by a trip to the North East to face 10th-placed Sunderland.
Ahead of their clash at the Stadium of Light, news has emerged of an injury to a talismanic figure.
Jack Clarke ruled out v Leicester City
Leicester‘s season will be defined in the final 12 games and with the gap to third reduced in recent weeks, they must get back to winning ways following a shaky period in the Championship.
They’ll be up against a significantly weaker Sunderland side, though, on Tuesday, as Jack Clarke has been ruled out of action for up to six weeks.
The 23-year-old wide player sustained an ankle ligament injury during his side’s 2-1 defeat against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s.
Clarke has been talismanic for the North East club this year and is widely considered as one of the best players in the division.
The former Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur winger has scored 15 goals this term, only Adam Armstrong, Morgan Whittaker and Sammie Szmodics have netted more.
Sunderland Echo journalist James Copley took to X in frustration and noted the injury as a ‘huge blow’.
Will Enzo Maresca change his tactics?
When Leicester met Sunderland earlier in the season, Maresca opted to play James Justin at right-back up against Clarke.
Normally, Ricardo Pereira would have operated in the inverted right-back role, but the Italian head coach decided to switch the Portuguese defender to the other side.
Without the threat of Clarke in Tuesday’s clash, perhaps Maresca will change his tactics this time around and go with a more attacking set-up.
Pereira could be deployed as a number eight, allowing Hamza Choudhury the chance to continue his role in the inverted position, which he performed so well in during the cup win at Bournemouth.
But before the focus turns to Sunderland, City must centre their attention on QPR this weekend.