The England-based trio of John Mikel Obi, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi and Isaac Success have all received varying forms of updates over their injury situations heading into this weekend’s round of matches, megasportsarena.com gathered.
While Watford’s Success is finally back and fit to play again, after missing six months of action due to a recurring knee complaint, Mikel is ruled out of this weekend’s fixtures with Stoke City, but all looks spick-and-span for Ndidi at Leicester City.
The biggest delight of the trio comes for Success, who has resumed training ahead of their Championship game against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, having been on the sidelines since June, due to a hamstring injury he suffered during a training session.
The UAE 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup gold medalist has struggled to establish himself at Vicarage Road since teaming up with the side from Spanish side Granada in 2016, but he expressed his delight to rejoin the rest of his teammates in readiness for their clash against The Terriers.
The BJ Foundation of Benin City product, who has managed seven goals in 49 league games for Watford since arriving from Granada, recently expressed disappointment in his inconsistent showings for The Hornets and promised to make a more meaningful contribution on his return.
Success confessed: “I’m very excited. The last five months have been boring. I’ve done a lot of work and I know it’s going to be an emotional first game back after six months out, but I’m ready for the challenge.
“Sometimes I feel disappointed with myself as I’ve got the qualities and everything a forward player will need. Feels good to be back training with the team.”
In a similar vein, Mikel is yet to feature for Stoke his month due to an injury problem, but he has now returned to training and Stoke City’s coach, Michael O’Neill is hoping that the star will be available for selection when they tango Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Mikel has been out injured since November 28 when he suffered a calf problem against Sheffield Wednesday, which saw him miss Stoke’s last five games – fixtures versus Wycombe Wanderers, Middlesbrough, Cardiff City, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers.
The former Super Eagles’ captain teamed up with Stoke City as a free agent in the summer after ending his stay with Turkish Super Lig side Trabzonspor, following which he had been consistent for The Potters, having featured in 15 games across all competitions, including 14 in the English Championship.
His performances contributed to Stoke’s eighth place on the league table after gathering 30 points from 19 games, and he will now hope to help his team return to winning ways against Blackburn, following no victory in their last three games.
Heading into Saturday’s fixture, Mikel has returned to training in preparation for his side’s outing against Tony Mowbray’s men and O’Neill admitted that he is eagerly looking forward to the former Lyn Oslo of Norway, Chelsea and Middlesbrough of England as well as Trabzonspor of Turkey midfielder’s return.
O’Neill said: “There’s nothing major, we hope to have John Obi Mikel available. He’s trained, so we’ll see if there’s any reaction to that later today. But other than John, everyone else is still unavailable.”
Lastly, Leicester’s coach, Brendan Rodgers has revealed that he is doing all it takes to ensure Ndidi does not suffer a relapse, following a groin injury in September which ruled him out from action for more than five weeks, missing a number of the Foxes’ games.
Though he only recently recovered from a nasty injury that required surgery, Ndidi is back delivering solid performances, despite being drafted into defence in Leicester’s loss to Everton in their last game due to the unavailability of Jonny Evans, who served a one-match suspension.
Rodgers praised the star’s performance and added: “Wilf Ndidi dropped into the backline and was outstanding during the week. Obviously when you have to move him, you’re taking a top player out of the midfield sector, so Jonny coming back in will be very important for us.
“That’s what we’ve done in the other games that he has played. We’re building him up towards 90 minutes. He’s such a pivotal player for us, so we’re just trying to manage it. Him in particular, coming back, we’re trying to ensure we do everything we can to protect him.”
