A club statement said: "Cattermole underwent an operation on his knee earlier today and Fletcher sustained ankle ligament damage whilst on international duty with Scotland.Fletcher in particular will be a huge loss after paying off a large proportion of the £12million the club invested in him during the summer with 11 goals.It is not known at this stage if Fletcher will require an operation, with the injury requiring further assessment in the coming weeks.However, having scored five in his first four games for the Black Cats, he has managed only one in his last seven, with the supply lines having dried up alarmingly.Both players will play no further part in the Black Cats' 2012-13 Barclays Premier League season.The 26-year-old former Wolves frontman was injured just two minutes into Scotland's 2-1 home defeat by Wales in Friday night's World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park and was carried from the field on a stretcher.The news could hardly have come at a worse time for O'Neill, whose side finds themselves firmly entrenched in a battle for top-flight survival with eight games of the campaign to play.Cattermole has been plagued by injuries for much of his time on Wearside and has managed only two senior appearances since the end of November.They face leaders Manchester United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday desperate to end a run of seven league games without a victory which has yielded just three points and left them only four clear of the drop zone.
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