Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris says he will find a solution to plug the gaps in his side's defence.
Regular left-back Dennis Cirkin has a hamstring injury, while back-up Leo Hjelde is also out injured.
Centre-back Dan Ballard remains on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, and right-back Trai Hume is playing through a hip problem.
But Le Bris has to find a way of working around this ahead of Saturday's home game with Millwall (15:00 GMT).
"We'll try and play with 10 players," he joked with BBC Radio Newcastle.