Touch Wood As Injuries Ease

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Striker on his way back as Clarets look to fire again at Tottenham

2021-02-26T15:12:35.473Z

Touch Wood As Injuries Ease

Striker on his way back as Clarets look to fire again at Tottenham

2021-02-26T15:12:35.473Z

Striker on his way back as Clarets look to fire again at Tottenham

The Clarets look set to have striking reinforcements available for Sunday’s trip to Tottenham with leading scorer Chris Wood on his way back.

Wood has missed the last six games with a hamstring injury he sustained at Chelsea at the end of January.

And with Matej Vydra and Ashley Barnes also spending time on the sidelines since then, the Clarets have, at times, been down to two fit senior strikers.

But Wood – who has scored against Spurs in each of the last three seasons – is ready to return to the squad.

And with the Clarets’ injury concerns easing slightly, Rodriguez is also expected to be available despite having to come off late on in last Saturday’s 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion.

“Woody has been out for a few days' training now, which is good,” confirmed manager Sean Dyche.

“Jay-Rod had a couple of knocks which needed keeping an eye on and he seems fine.

“It’s a mixed bag really. Two or three can maybe figure, the rest we are still waiting on.”

Barnes remains sidelined, along with winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson, while wideman Robbie Brady and defender Erik Pieters are also doubts for the trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But midfielder Dale Stephens will return to the squad after recovering from injury with the Clarets finally benefitting from a blank week between fixtures.

The Clarets had just played for six successive mid-weeks following another busy period up to the turn of the year.

Dyche’s men are unbeaten in four league games but struggled to hold onto a point against 10-man West Brom as they remained 15th in the table - six points clear of the relegation places.

And the manager hopes a more measured build-up will get his side back to their best for the visit to a Spurs line-up beaten in their last three domestic fixtures but into the last-16 of the Europa League on the back of an 8-1 aggregate win over German side Wolfsburg.

“It’s been useful for a bit of recuperation,” added Dyche.

“I said after the last game we performed way off our mark and looked jaded and tired and it finally caught up with us.

“We’d had 13 games in 42 days and we’ve got another three coming up this week.

“When you’ve got injuries, you’re asking a lot of the players who are being rolled out there constantly.

“No gripe about it; it’s the challenges of what the situation is and we all know that.

“It’s not a gripe but it is a reality. There are a lot of games and we have had a lot of injuries.

“There is a chance they will have a collective down day, as we call it, and it just happened to be the last game.

“But the players have been really good in training in the week. We gave them a couple of days off, a couple of days in and then another day off.

“They look a bit brighter and a bit brighter behind the eyes so I’m pleased with that."