With time running out for his first-choice pair, Giovanni Trapattoni may get the opportunity to weigh up Marc Wilson’s potential to fill in at centre half for the World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Austria, with the 25-year-old set to play there for his club over the coming few weeks.
Stoke City boss Tony Pulis will be without German centre back Robert Huth for the next three games and with limited enough options at his disposal, it seems the 25-year-old Republic of Ireland international, who only returned to first-team action at the weekend after a long lay-off with a broken leg, heads the queue to deputise against West Ham, Newcastle United and West Brom.
“I’ll play anywhere for the team and do a job,” says the Northerner, who pointed out: “There was a time at Portsmouth when all the centre-halves were out and I played about 20 games there.”
With Richard Dunne now virtually certain to miss next month’s World Cup games, and Seán St Ledger still waiting to play a competitive game for Leicester, Trapattoni could yet see Wilson as an option for Ireland in the centre. John O’Shea and Ciarán Clark played together there against Poland, however, and Darren O’Dea will most likely come back into contention too.
West Brom expect striker Shane Long to train today and be fit for Saturday’s visit to Stamford Bridge despite the Irishman having sustained some damage to ankle ligaments in last weekend’s win over Sunderland.
Back to normal
The former Reading player has been forced to sit out training over the last few days but club physio Keith Downing said: “He should be back to normal by Thursday and Friday. It’s not serious and we should be able to strap it up if necessary.”
Leon Best, meanwhile, could be involved for Blackburn against Peterborough on Saturday after confirming his return to fitness with a goal in a reserve team game earlier in the week.
The striker, who joined last July, has yet to make his debut for the Ewood Park outfit because of a knee injury but could come back into contention for Ireland too if he can get back playing over the next week or so.
Séamus Coleman is hoping that his injury problems are behind him after performing strongly again as Everton came through their cup replay against Oldham on Tuesday night. “I’ve had a good run in the team this year in my favoured position so it was disappointing to be out with an injury,” he said. “I’ve been working hard with the fitness coaches, though, and felt good so hopefully I can go strong until the end of the season now.”
James McClean is off Twitter yet again after becoming embroiled in another social media controversy. His latest stint online started unpromisingly when he described himself as being from “Free Derry” and it ended when he got involved in a debate over ballads with some of his comments provoking a reaction from DUP politician Gregory Campbell.
Martin O’Neill is reported to have acted to ensure it was taken down once more.
