Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill explained the absence of John O'Shea for victory over Manchester City.

The stand-in skipper wasn't in the squad for the 1-0 win over City, with Carlos Cuellar taking the armband in his absence.

O'Neill revealed after the game that O'Shea hadn't been feeling 100% for a couple of days, adding:

"We did some training last night and he wasn't really up to it. He hadn't improved today so we left him out.

"It wasn't worth the risk; I hope he'll get over it pretty quickly."