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Emile Heskey and Craig Davies will not be risked against Watford – but could be unleashed against Nottingham Forest next weekend.
The strike pair have been out of action for the last five games with hamstring injuries but are now close to returning to full training.
Neil Lennon does not want to risk pushing them too soon, so will rely on Adam Le Fondre and Eidur Gudjohnsen when the Hornets visit the Macron Stadium tomorrow.
But he expects his options to be boosted for the mouth-watering trip to Forest seven days later, when Wanderers will look to hand former boss Dougie Freedman a defeat on his home turf.
“We’re hoping they’ll both be back after the Watford game,” said the Whites boss. “It’ll be good to have them back too because we’ve missed that little bit of physicality.
“Of the others, we might get Liam Trotter back for this weekend, but otherwise it’ll be a case of going with what we had against Fulham.
“I’d imagine Watford will be a stiffer proposition than Fulham too, so we’ll have to be ready for another big ask.”
The midweek win over Fulham lifted Wanderers into their best league position of the season but they remain 15 points off the play-off positions and seven clear of the bottom three.
Lennon insists his side cannot afford to be comfortable, or run the risk of ruining their good work.
Had the season started when the Northern Irishman was appointed on October 12, Wanderers would currently be sitting joint sixth with tomorrow’s opponents with nine wins, five draws and five defeats from his 19 games in charge.
But he wonders whether a play-off chase is now beyond their reach after a run of three league matches without victory prior to Tuesday night.
“We’re 13th now and it’s the highest we’ve been since I came in,” he said. “You just wonder what might have been if we hadn’t dropped a few points recently and let the injuries catch up with us.
“There’s still a lot of football to go. We’re still looking at the bottom three – but we’re also looking up the table and wondering whether we can make a late charge.
“But we need to get a few bodies back because we do look a little lightweight at times.”
Source
The strike pair have been out of action for the last five games with hamstring injuries but are now close to returning to full training.
Neil Lennon does not want to risk pushing them too soon, so will rely on Adam Le Fondre and Eidur Gudjohnsen when the Hornets visit the Macron Stadium tomorrow.
But he expects his options to be boosted for the mouth-watering trip to Forest seven days later, when Wanderers will look to hand former boss Dougie Freedman a defeat on his home turf.
“We’re hoping they’ll both be back after the Watford game,” said the Whites boss. “It’ll be good to have them back too because we’ve missed that little bit of physicality.
“Of the others, we might get Liam Trotter back for this weekend, but otherwise it’ll be a case of going with what we had against Fulham.
“I’d imagine Watford will be a stiffer proposition than Fulham too, so we’ll have to be ready for another big ask.”
The midweek win over Fulham lifted Wanderers into their best league position of the season but they remain 15 points off the play-off positions and seven clear of the bottom three.
Lennon insists his side cannot afford to be comfortable, or run the risk of ruining their good work.
Had the season started when the Northern Irishman was appointed on October 12, Wanderers would currently be sitting joint sixth with tomorrow’s opponents with nine wins, five draws and five defeats from his 19 games in charge.
But he wonders whether a play-off chase is now beyond their reach after a run of three league matches without victory prior to Tuesday night.
“We’re 13th now and it’s the highest we’ve been since I came in,” he said. “You just wonder what might have been if we hadn’t dropped a few points recently and let the injuries catch up with us.
“There’s still a lot of football to go. We’re still looking at the bottom three – but we’re also looking up the table and wondering whether we can make a late charge.
“But we need to get a few bodies back because we do look a little lightweight at times.”
Source