Sunderland have been rocked by the news Kenwyne Jones is facing a month on the sidelines after picking up a muscle injury.
The striker picked up the injury during Sunday's 1-1 draw against Manchester City and it is yet another blow for boss Steve Bruce who has had a whole host of problems on the injury front this season.
Jones is now facing a month out and Bruce will turn to Benjani rather than recalling Martyn Waghorn from his loan spell with Leicester City.
"It looks like it could be a month," said Bruce. "And that's a massive blow for us because over the last month he has played ever so well. Losing him at half-time was probably the defining moment of the game yesterday. It really knocked us. The second half became a bit of a struggle as a result, because we lost our focal point.
"But it is probably the story of our whole season - just as we seem to be making progress, we lose one of our key players."