Sunderland Will Miss Anichebe-Defoe Partnership - Moyes

Sunderland boss David Moyes says Victor Anichebe's impressive strike partnership with English forward, Jermain Defoe, will be hugely missed following the Nigerian forward's recent injury setback.


Anichebe injured his right knee in Sunderland's 2-0 away loss to West Brom at the weekend and has been confirmed he will be out for three months.

Commenting on Anichebe's absence, Moyes described the 28-year-old as a very important player to the Black Cats' chances of escaping relegation.

“I said at the start of the season that we needed a big man to go with Jermain Defoe – we didn’t get anyone in the transfer window," Moyes told Sunderland Echo.

“We got Victor the day after and lucky we did, but the similarities in recent games (with start of season), at the start I couldn’t see how we were going to get up the pitch, we had a difficulty getting from our goal to high up the pitch unless we could play really good football.

“Victor gave us an opportunity to get the ball up, for him to hold up, and I think he became a fans favourite because they could see how important he was – it helped us get up and play better.”