Confirmed: West Brom receive injury boost ahead of Fulham clash

West Brom defender Dara O’Shea has returned to training ahead of the Premier League clash against Fulham on Monday.

The Irish international missed the 1-1 draw with Brighton on Monday evening after suffering a knock in training beforehand.

Slaven Bilic claimed that at first, it looked like O’Shea would be out for a prolonged period of time with a serious knock, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

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Bilic confirmed that O’Shea has returned to action for the Baggies this week in his pre-match press conference on Thursday.

“Dara is good,” he said. “He’s back in training.

“As I said in the beginning, it looked more like an injury that was going to take him longer and he’d be on the sidelines.

“Thankfully it isn’t. He’s back and is training 100%.”

Competition strong

With Bilic changing system to a four-at-the-back, it has seen Darnell Furlong cement his position at right-back in O’Shea’s absence.

The Irish youngster can play both at full-back and in the heart of the defence, meaning he can be the Baggies’ utility man when they look to rotate.

Furlong hasn’t done much wrong this season though and should keep his spot for the game against Fulham on Monday.

The 24-year-old is averaging nearly seven interceptions per game according to WyScout, more than O’Shea, with his pace a real weapon defensively.

O’Shea is back in contention this week, but it should only be a place on the bench that he should be expecting from Bilic.

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