Brede Hangeland is Fulham’s major injury concern going into our Europa League tie against Juventus.
The Norwegian picked up a rib injury in Sunday’s defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford, and had to be replaced by Jonathan Greening on 62 minutes.
“Brede trained on Wednesday morning after taking a severe blow to his chest against Manchester United,” Roy Hodgson revealed. “He’s recovered certainly much quicker than we expected but a decision will be made tomorrow [Thursday].
“On Thursday we’ll see the reaction after today’s training and what another 24 hours has done to allow the injury to settle. Luckily I have a very good player who can replace him in Chris Smalling, who is another top class centre back.”
Fulham’s squad is already depleted by suspensions for midfielders Danny Murphy and Greening, meaning Chris Baird is likely to start in the centre of the park.
A number of others occupy the treatment room, while several are not registered to feature.
“We’ve got a lot of players missing,” confirmed Hodgson. “Nine players are missing from the original First Team and 12 if we include the players that are training with us at the moment.
“The three major injuries and illnesses are [Andrew] Johnson, [John] Pantsil and [David] Elm. [Danny] Murphy and Greening are suspended.
“Then we have [Stefano] Okaka, Andranik [Teymourian], [Nicky] Shorey, [Rob] Milsom, [Wayne] Brown and [Fredrik] Stoor unavailable because they weren’t put on the original list back in September.
“Then we have Matthew Briggs unavailable because he was loaned out in January. Although he’s a B list player, he’s not allowed to be put back on again.
“For a small squad like ours to be missing 12 players who could possibly be taking part in the game is an awful lot, but luckily we’ve still got 18 players left who I hope can do the job for us.”
One man who will likely be on the bench despite struggling lately is Bjorn Helge Riise.
“Bjorn trained for the first time today [Wednesday],” Hodgson said. “He was seriously ill. He was ill the day before the game against Juventus in Torino and spent two and a half days in hospital being fed intravenously.
“He’s an iron man really, because to get out of the hospital yesterday morning and get treatment yesterday afternoon and then come in for training this morning, albeit a very light session, is very surprising.
“With our situation and shortage of players I’m sure he’ll be on the bench. In a better world, with more players at my disposal, we wouldn’t have chanced him on the bench.”