Di Canio vows to reduce Sunderland injuries

The Premier League outfit have been beset by injuries to key players in previous seasons, with the likes of Steven Fletcher, Lee Cattermole, Fraizer Campbell and Kieran Richardson all struggling to find fitness in recent campaigns.

Di Canio has instilled a strict fitness and diet regime at the club since taking over in March, and after his first pre-season in charge he expects to see a drop in the number of injuries during the current campaign.

"I promise that this club will have fewer injuries than it used to," he said. "We have worked hard on fitness, and fitness levels are all-important if you are to maintain quality for long periods of the game, and for many games consistently.

"The majority of the squad had just one day off training all summer, but I think this is a good thing because in my view if you train hard, you have less, not more chance of injury.

"Of course we will have an injury or two at some stage, I'm not saying we won't

"But what I am saying is that with the fitness levels we have, we will pick up far fewer injuries over the course of the season, and that has got to benefit us in the long run."

Sunderland currently have five players out due to injury, with two of them - Wes Brown and Cattermole - long-term absentees.