London, March 31 (IANS) Niclas Fullkrug is ready to return to the West Ham United matchday squad after recovering from the hamstring injury that has sidelined him for the past two-and-a-half months.
The German centre-forward was hurt during head coach Graham Potter’s first game in charge on January 10 in an FA Cup third-round defeat against Aston Villa.
The 32-year-old has worked hard to return to action and will take his seat on the bench for the clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League at Molineux.
However, the game will come too soon for another player who suffered a hamstring injury in that FA Cup tie at Villa Park, winger Crysencio Summerville, who is still working his way back to fitness at Rush Green training ground.
“Summerville, no (he won’t be available), but Fullkrug has been training with the group and will more than likely be in the squad. So we’ve just got to obviously build his minutes up in terms of what he’s able to do. He hasn’t played competitive football for a while and he’s had a fairly significant injury, but he’s training well and he’s building his fitness up, so he’ll be in the squad.
“You can do all the rehab in the world and you can train as well, but you can’t beat and you can’t almost replicate Premier League competitive minutes, so that’s the next stage for him. But whatever role we can give him, he’ll do it as best as he can, and then it’s good to have him back in the squad,” said Potter while speaking in his pre-match press conference.
Potter is relishing the return of Premier League football as West Ham United prepare to play their first competitive fixture in 17 days at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday (IST).
With the March international window being followed by the FA Cup sixth-round weekend, the Irons have not contested a top-flight game since drawing at Everton on March 15.
“I feel good. I’m looking forward to going again though, to be honest. It is what it is, as there’s nothing you can do about the schedule. You’ve just got to hope that the guys have had a good, positive international camp, the ones that were away, and then we worked with the players that were here, which we’ve done. So yeah, we’re looking forward to the game,” added Potter.
–IANS
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