Slaven Bilic has confirmed that Ahmed Hegazi and Grady Diangana are both back to full fitness and will be able to play their part in the run-in – whenever that may be.
As we know, the Coronavirus outbreak has resulted in the football season stopping indefinitely and whilst there are plans to finish the season within eight weeks when it does resume, we still don’t know when that will be.
The one positive for players from this situation is that they have been given more time to recover from injuries and Albion are certainly going to benefit from that, with Bilic telling the Express & Star that Hegazi and Diangana are both now fit.
“Ahmed is feeling great. He is training. He was supposed to come back in a week anyway when this happened. It’s the same with Grady. I spoke to him. It’s not that Grady didn’t play for a year. I expect we will not have to treat them any different to any of the other boys, they are going to be at the same level.”
Having struggled to get in the XI for much of the season, Egyptian international Hegazi was making his third successive start against Wigan towards the end of February before he was replaced after suffering with a hamstring complaint.
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Meanwhile, injury problems have been a major concern for Diangana in 2020, with the exciting West Ham loanee restricted to just 24 minutes of action this year, with his last involvement on the pitch coming in mid-January after having hamstring issues of his own.
The 21-year-old had established himself an integral member of Bilic’s XI in the first half of the campaign, weighing in with five goals and five assists in 21 games.
When the duo do return, they will be tasked with helping Albion get over the line in the race for automatic promotion. The Baggies are currently six points ahead of third-placed Fulham in the table, with the Cottagers due to visit The Hawthorns for one of the final nine games.