Jack Wilshere has confirmed that Elijah Adebayo is a doubt for tomorrow’s League One meeting with Stockport County after picking up a hip problem in midweek.
The Hatters head into the lunchtime kick-off at Kenilworth Road looking to close the gap on the play-off places to one point before the afternoon games, but Wilshere revealed the striker will likely miss the game after suffering the issue during Tuesday’s victory.
Adebayo’s appearance off the bench in the 75th minute was second appearance of the season after suffering a serious knee injury in May last year. After 11 months out he made his return last weekend as a late sub in the victory over Wycombe, but in the game against Exeter he appeared to be in some discomfort soon after coming on.
“Elijah felt, felt his hip on Tuesday. He’s having some tests, so we’ll see how he is, but he’d probably be short for tomorrow,” said Wilshere.
The Town boss also confirmed that experienced forward Nahki Wells remains sidelined following the hamstring injury he sustained against Wycombe, although the prognosis is more encouraging than first feared.
Wilshere said: “He came off against Wycombe with a hamstring that probably at the time we thought was going to be a lot worse than it is. Unfortunately he’s not ready for tomorrow, but yeah, he’ll be ready after the international break.”
There was better news regarding Ali Al-Hamadi, with the striker back in full training this week and available for selection after recovering from a foot problem that had kept him out of contention.
“Ali’s trained this week. He felt his foot before, but he’s been back fully training,” said the Hatters boss, adding: “He was a question mark for Tuesday. We decided to give him an extra few days training to see how he responds, but he’s responded well and yeah, he’s available for selection.”
Wilshere admitted the club had been cautious with the Iraqi international after he arrived on loan from Ipswich with an injury and then after returning to action, suffering another injury on World Cup qualifying duty for his nation. But the manager said the injuries have been different.
“He’s had a good block of training behind him. I know he’s missed probably the last 10 days with a little knock on his foot, but before that, in terms of the problem he had before, the muscular injury, he’s been fine. He looked strong. He looks sharp in training and yeah, hopefully he can help us tomorrow,” Wilshere said.
Defensively, the Hatters are still waiting on the return of centre-back Mads Andersen, who has resumed light training but is not expected to feature this weekend.
Wilshere said: “Mads is back doing some light training, but probably will be a little bit too soon for him. It’s been a frustrating one for him, for all of us because how many times we spoke about the importance of him and how he helps the backline, defend direct play, how calm he is with the ball.”
Meanwhile Wilshere confirmed that Isaiah Jones and Cohen Bramall had both missed the last two games not through injury but selection decisions.
“He’s not injured,” said the manager of Jones, adding: “Izzy came back and he did excellently just to cope with the demands as we played him four 90 minutes in a row, then he was ill and we decided the day before the [Vertu Trophy] semi-final that we were going to leave him out and rest him up for the weekend, which we did.
“Then he played again, two 90 minutes, and to me he didn’t look quite right physically, so then he came out of the team against Wycombe and came out of the squad again [against Exeter] due to the numbers that we can have on the bench and the positions we needed covering.
“The team won, so I decided to go with the same team, the same squad. Gids [Gideon Kodua] kept his place at right wingback, he deserved it, but Izzy’s been training now, he looks fitter to me, he looks in a better place than he did and he’s available for selection.”
Bramall had been one of Town’s best players until he suffered ligament damage against Blackpool which kept him out for six weeks.
Wilshere said: “Cohen came back, he was in a few squads, he got on the pitch and then he was out of the squad because how many times have I spoken about just having six subs.
“Then when you have some question marks over the players playing, you need to make sure you have cover for them, so that’s been the reason he’s been out of the squad, but he’s available for selection. [He’s been out] through no fault of his own in my opinion, because his injury was a bad one.
“It was a bad tackle in my opinion, it deserved more than what they got, I don’t even think we got the throw-win for that. He had a history of ankle injuries and it probably took him a little bit more time than he thought, which is frustrating for him, frustrating for us, as he had kind of made that role his own.”
He added of Bramall: “He gives us so much with his speed and his ability to get down the line and cross balls in. So he is taking a little bit more time, but he’s coming back, he’s trained well this week and he’s available for selection.”
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