Brunt winning fitness battle

17 October 2014 03:31

West Brom skipper Chris Brunt is winning his fitness fight to face Manchester United.

The midfielder suffered a groin injury on international duty with Northern Ireland and missed their wins over the Faroe Islands and Greece.

Silvestre Varela (groin) and Claudio Yacob (personal reasons) will not feature against Louis Van Gaal's side at The Hawthorns on Monday, but Irvine has been boosted by Brunt's progress.

He said: "Chris Brunt was the only man who came back and he came back early. Fortunately for us that's given us time to work with him and he hasn't trained with us yet but he will join in on Saturday.

"I'm expecting everyone who came back to be in contention for the game on Monday."

Gareth McAuley and Chris Baird played for Northern Ireland while James Morrison helped Scotland beat Georgia and draw in Poland.

Saido Berahino also helped England Under-21s qualify for Euro 2015 next summer and Irvine hopes it will be positive for his side.

"They are all very happy, the (Northern) Irish lads are a bit complacent because that happens all the time," he said.

"We had a good chat about it and they are absolutely delighted. The games I've seen I've been really pleased with how our players have performed."

Source: PA