Poveda was due to have been in the Black Cats squad that lined up at Hillsborough to take on Sheffield Wednesday last night.
However, while his team-mates claimed the 2-1 win that lifted them back to within five points of the automatic-promotion places ahead of today’s game, Poveda was absent after his injury jinx struck again.
The winger suffered an injury in one of the final training sessions before the game with the Owls, and while the severity of his latest problem is still being assessed, it was serious enough to prevent him from featuring last night.
Poveda has suffered a series of injury issues since joining Sunderland as a free agent in the summer, and has made just six Championship substitute appearances over the course of the campaign.
“Ian suffered an injury in the training session,” confirmed Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris. “We don’t know yet how serious it is.”
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In Poveda’s absence, the Black Cats claimed a win that drew a line under the back-to-back defeats to Leeds United and Hull City that had preceded the game at Hillsborough.
The two losses had seen Sunderland slip away from the automatic-promotion positions, but the win over Sheffield Wednesday lifted them back to within three points of third-placed Burnley, who are in FA Cup action this weekend.
They have closed to within five points of second-placed Sheffield United, who head to QPR this afternoon, and are now ten points behind league leaders Leeds United, who take on West Brom at Elland Road.
“All we can do is win our games,” said Le Bris. “Our only goal is to win our games, and then after that, we will see how the race plays out and what the dynamic of the teams that are in the top three now is.
“We can’t control this part of the table, we just have to win and try to keep on improving our game level. As long as we are improving, and correcting some of things we are trying to work on, then that is all we can do.
“We are learning, and as long as we keep on trying to get better, we will keep on moving forward. Then, at the end of the season, we will see where we are. We cannot worry about anything else other than ourselves.”