Brian Brobbey and Granit Xhaka both had to come off against Chelsea

Fears are growing over the extent of injuries to Sunderland pair Brian Brobbey and Granit Xhaka after both were withdrawn from international duty.

The influential pair were both substituted during the win over Chelsea on Sunday. Xhaka lasted just four minutes after aggravating a calf muscle in the warm-up.

Brobbey was replaced by Wilson Isidor in the 67th minute and has been suffering from a hamstring problem that caused him to miss games.

The two players have been withdrawn from the Switzerland and Netherlands squads respectively.

The Black Cats will return to action after the international break with a tough run of fixtures as they look to build on the 1-0 win over Chelsea. Regis Le Bris' men travel to Aston Villa on Saturday, November 21, and will host Tottenham just three days after a Europa League home game against Jagiellonia Białystok.

There is also the small matter of the Tyne-Wear derby on the horizon on December 6, with both Brobbey and Xhaka key players for the encounter with Newcastle United.

Sunderland's players must share the responsibility for the pressure head coach Le Bris finds himself under, according to stalwart defender Luke O’Nien. He admitted the squad are well aware of the situation the Frenchman finds himself in – a position that improved with the victory against Chelsea.

Boos could be heard in the stadium during the 2-0 Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb but they turned to cheers on Sunday afternoon thanks to a much-improved display.

O’Nien says the struggles must be shared among the players even though football never works like that as the manager normally takes the blame.

“I think as players, we’re under pressure too,” he told reporters. “Performance comes down to every single person, and everybody feels that, and I think it’s rightly so. We’re out there to perform, and we haven’t got the points we want.

"The gaffer is the face of that, but equally, as players, myself, senior players, the younger players, we all take responsibility for that. It’s a team effort. We go out there, and yeah, so I think he crowd wanted that against Chelsea, we all wanted it, and yeah, very proud of the boys and us for that.”

While the likes of Robin Roefs and Noah Sadiki have voiced their support of Le Bris in recent weeks, results on the pitch will be the defining factor. In that respect they did much to turn around the support last weekend.

“They’ve been excellent, and we’ve got to give them the performance for them to get behind,” O’Nien said of the crowd.

“I think we did that from the very first couple of minutes, the way we pressed, the way we hunted them down, and the crowd responded. So we’re well aware of what the fans want to see; when it’s not going well, we hold our hands up.

"There’s never a lack of effort or trying. Sometimes it doesn’t click, and we’ve been working really hard behind the scenes, and today you saw that.”