Jermain Defoe to miss Sunderland's trip to Arsenal with hamstring injury

Sunderland will be without Jermain Defoe for Saturday's trip to Arsenal, but the striker's hamstring injury is not as serious as first feared.

The 33-year-old limped off in the Black Cats' 1-0 win at Crystal Palace last month but is expected to return at home to Watford on December 12 after scans revealed he did not rupture ankle ligaments.

Defoe is Sunderland's top scorer with seven goals in all competitions this season, ahead of Steven Fletcher with four, but Allardyce is confident his squad has the depth to cover Defoe's absence.

"Duncan (Watmore), Fabio Borini, Adam Johnson," Allardyce said at his pre-game press conference on Thursday when asked who can pose a goal-scoring threat to Arsene Wenger's side.

"There are a few who can step up to replace Jermain. We'll have to be at our clinical best on Saturday because the chances we will create will be difficult to come by."

Jack Rodwell and Sebastian Larsson will also miss Saturday's clash at the Emirates, with the latter in Barcelona to see a specialist on his medial knee injury.

Arsenal will be without influential trio Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, while Laurent Koscielny is also an injury doubt, but Allardyce says the north London side have enough quality to replace them.

"The strength and depth of Arsene's squad is why they've always finished in the top four. It's a weakened side," he said.

"We have a chance, maybe a better chance, with those players not playing, but they still have a top quality squad with great players throughout. 

Sunderland are chasing their third Premier League win in a row and have collected nine points from a possible 18 since Allardyce took over to rise out of the relegation zone

But the Black Cats manager admits the festive period could be season-defining for his side.

"We have a particularly difficult December. The challenge for us is to try and maintain our good results, our increasingly good performances," he said.

"They're (performances) getting better and better with the confidence that we're gaining out of winning. We're still in deep relegation trouble though."