Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos has confirmed that defender Stephen Welsh's knee injury is not as serious as first feared, and the Scotland international could be in contention for this weekend's trip to Birmingham City.
Welsh was withdrawn after a heavy challenge from Ebou Adams during Tuesday's 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth, and needed assistance as he was escorted from the pitch after suffering what looked like a nasty knee injury. However, Matos says scans have shown a positive update, and while there is still some uncertainty over whether he will join up with Scotland, he may yet make the trip to St Andrew's this weekend.
Scan shows no major damage
"The scan is clear so it's just really a bad knock there. So there's nothing major," Matos said. "We will still assess if he will be available for Saturday but it's not a bad injury. It's just a knock that is really really painful."
Welsh was replaced by captain Ben Cabango on the night, with the Wales international starting from the bench due to picking up a knock of his own in the win over Blackburn Rovers. "He's completely fine," Matos said. "He's in training again today. Fitness-wise he was okay. It's just he could not train before and had a really painful situation that came from a knock as well. We really needed to make sure that was nothing more serious than what it was. That's why we did the scan. The scan was clear and for us, wherever we are, having the captain with you is always better."
Eom and Yeo return to contention
Eom Jisung missed the trip to Fratton Park having suffered a knock of his own during the win over Rovers, but he is also back in contention for this weekend. "He's available now," Matos said. "He got two really ugly knocks on his leg against Blackburn and that made a situation that was really painful for him. He wasn't even able to train, so that's why he wasn't involved. But today he trained already, feels much better and he will be available for the next game."
Fellow winger Moussa Yeo, who recently earned his first call-up for Mali ahead of the international break, is also back. "Moussa Yeo's back," Matos added. "He trained normally, he's back in the squad and available as well."
Widell and Eustaquio remain sidelined
Melker Widell, however, will not feature, after he was withdrawn with a suspected minor hamstring injury in midweek. "We decided to sub him at half-time because of some awareness on the hamstring, but it's a grade one situation so it's nothing major," Matos said. "He will be of course not available for this game but he will be back straight after the international break."
Stephen Eustaquio is similarly still sidelined as he continues his recovery from a groin injury, which is also set to keep him out of action for Canada. Cameron Burgess remains a long-term absentee, while Ronald is believed to be making good progress as he works his way back from a hamstring problem. "He's on schedule. I think he's doing his pitch rehab starting today so that's always a good sign when the player can go outside," Matos said. "But he's still integrated with the medical team and with the fitness department."
