Steve Bruce has moved to bolster his leaky defence with the on loan signing of Spurs right back Alan Hutton untill the end of the season. Despite a great start to the 2009-10 campaign, Sunderland have fallen dramatically down the Premiership table, and sit just three points off the drop zone.

One of the main issues is in defence, with the club only managing three clean sheets all season. Bruce’s acquisition of Scottish international Hutton will resultantly see Phil Bardsley lose his first team place as the club look to climb the table.

Hutton, coming in at £4.4m in FPL, is an attack-minded full back, and fans at the Stadium of Light can look forward to seeing him foraging up and down the right wing with menace. With Darren Bent a constant when it comes to goals, Hutton could well grab his fair share of assists too, as he looks to recapture the form that saw Spurs splash out £9m for his services from Glasgow Rangers…

After last night’s Stadium of Light stalemate with Stoke, Sunderland have five home games & one DGW in the next seven gameweeks (WIG, por, ars, FUL, avl & BOL, MCY, BIR) to get their season back on track, with Steve Bruce tweaking the side in an attempt to rediscover that early season form once more.

Hutton should be handed his debut in the clash with Wigan this weekend, an early opportunity to show his potential. With just one clean sheet in the last ten, Steve Bruce’s side have a lot to do to convince us that they warrant defensive investment. Hutton’s attacking abilities and the Black Cat’s fixture list may yet attract our interest.