West Bromwich Albion head coach Jimmy Shan has confirmed that he expects centre-half, Craig Dawson, to come back into contention for the midweek clash against Bristol City later this evening.
The 28-year-old defender missed out in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Millwall with a sickness bug but having been given the standard 48 hours off, Shan told wba.co.uk in his pre-game press conference that he was confident he could come back into his thoughts for this one.
“We’ve kept Craig Dawson away because with sickness it’s always 48 hours. We need to make sure he gets food in him and he hydrates so things settle down with him. One to look after himself but two to make sure the sickness bug doesn’t spread. I’ll have an update off the club doctor and medical team today to see where he is, but Craig being Craig, if he’s rested and recuperated I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
As Shan says, it’s yet to be confirmed that he’ll take his place in the starting lineup but with Ahmed Hegazi serving an automatic one match ban following his sending off for two yellow cards in the last one, it might solve that headache.
Giving a wider injury update he also confirmed that the sickness bug had hit Gareth Barry, but Matty Phillips is now ‘back out on the grass’ as he continues to build his own fitness, and the expectation there is that he will return to contention for the weekend’s clash with Preston North End.
