‘It’s still up in the air’: Surgery dilemma for Blackpool’s Jordan Gabriel as Gary Madine carries knock

The right-back is likely to be missing for the foreseeable future after injuring his knee in a freak accident at home last week.

The lateral meniscus injury has resulted in the 24-year-old missing back-to-back games against Sunderland and Watford respectively.

While a timescale has yet to be placed on his return, Appleton has suggested it could be a relatively lengthy one.

Gabriel did see the specialist at the back end of last week, but the picture still isn’t entirely clear according to Blackpool’s head coach – although he did admit surgery was an option.

“It’s still up in the air in terms of timelines,” Appleton told The Gazette.

“What I can say having seen him walking around, he does look a bit freer than he did the other day.

“Hopefully I can give you some more news on it midweek, but we’ve got no definitive news on it in terms of timeline.

“There’s still a question mark in terms of whether it’s surgery or not.”

Blackpool were given another injury concern on Saturday during their 3-1 win against Watford when Gary Madine came off holding his groin.

The niggling issue didn’t stop the striker from getting off the mark on Saturday with a clever lob for Blackpool’s opening goal.

“He’s got a little bit of an issue with his groin, he was feeling it at half-time,” Appleton said.

“But because of the way he competes and gets around the pitch he will pick up little knocks and niggles.

“Hopefully it’s nothing too serious and we can get him back out on the pitch next week for the Sheffield United game.”

The Seasiders could be boosted by the return of James Husband for the trip to Bramall Lane, with Appleton recently indicating he could return soon from his calf injury.

Kenny Dougall, meanwhile, will be back available after serving his one-game suspension after picking up five bookings.

But Rhys Williams (shin), Kevin Stewart (calf and fractured foot), Lewis Fiorini (hamstring) Keshi Anderson (quad) and Jake Beesley (fractured foot) are all likely to remain sidelined through injury.