There was some positive news from the Training Ground on Wednesday afternoon when the Club confirmed that Brian McBride completed 90 minutes in a friendly against Cardiff City at Motspur Park.
Fulham's medical team confirmed that McBride suffered no adverse affects after the game and Roy Hodgson expressed his happiness with the striker's progress after watching him in action.
"Brian has done extremely well to be back so early from the injury. He’s worked very, very hard at it. It was good that he played 90 minutes on Wednesday and I thought the longer the game went on the happier he looked on the field.
"We mustn't overestimate the level of opposition. It was an extremely young Cardiff team and that game was nothing like a Premier League game but the really positive thing is that our captain, Brian, who is a really influential character and person, is well on the road to recovery. We’re hoping that if he continues at this rate it won’t be long before we see him in the First Team."
Hodgson should have two new strikers available to him for Sunday's game. The recent addition of Eddie Johnson and Erik Nevland to the ranks means that Hodgson now has, for the first time, a number of striking options available to him.
"Clint Dempsey is playing as our lone striker and is, in actual fact, a midfield player. We have new strikers now to bring into the team alongside David Healy, who is a different type of striker.
"In Nevland and Johnson we have two out and out central strikers to bring in. I think they’ll make us better in that area but you have to take things step by step."
US international striker, Eddie Johnson, will return to the UK on Thursday and Hodgson thanked US coach Bob Bradley for allowing the striker special dispensation to miss the US' forthcoming training camp and fixture against Mexico on February 6.
"Eddie Johnson was granted a work permit and had to return to America immediately because the granting of a permit is the catalyst for getting him the necessary permits from America to allow him to come here. We couldn’t send him back to do the necessary procedures in America until he got the permit. When that happened we sent him back as fast as we possibly could and he will return on Thursday.
"I’m very grateful to the US national team coach Bob Bradley, who has agreed that he won’t be calling him back on Sunday night or Monday morning for the friendly match. I’m much happier that he’s now part of our game on Sunday."
