Former Notts County and Scunthorpe physio Johnny Wilson is concerned by the potential return of James Ward-Prowse for Southampton against Burnley.
Wilson says that Ward-Prowse might not have had enough time since suffering the injury to recover against Burnley. Ward-Prowse was stretchered off against Tottenham just over a week ago with a knee injury.
Speaking on The Late Fitness Test podcast, Wilson said:
At 10-12 days, maybe the cells are a little immature to take that type of tensioning.
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It will be very interesting to see if Ralph Hasenhuttl does run the risk of starting Ward-Prowse on Saturday. As Wilson says, his cells may not have fully recovered enough to deal with the tension they could endure with 90 minutes of Premier League football.
However, Hasenhuttl has stated in his press conference that he believes Ward-Prowse will be fit for the match. This means that we have two contrasting statements, although Wilson has only stressed his concerns and not said outright that Ward-Prowse would not be able to play.
At the end of the day, it is Hasenhuttl’s decision to make and we will find out later today whether or not he is ready to take the risk on the English midfielder.
It could be a huge boost for Southampton if he is able to play, though, as he is the club’s top-performing player in the Premier League this season according to WhoScored.
He has recorded the highest average rating in the Southampton squad, with 7.08 – only Danny Ings, with 7, comes close to Ward-Prowse.
