Southampton defender Kyle Walker-Peters has been pictured back in training after being absent against Aston Villa last weekend.
Walker-Peters watched on from the stands as Southampton beat Villa 2-0 at St. Mary’s.
Ralph Hasenhuttl revealed that he was struggling with a calf injury ahead of the game, with James Ward-Prowse lining up at right-back.
The club have now posted a set of training pictures ahead of the trip to West Ham, with Walker-Peters pictured battling for the ball amongst his teammates on the pitch.
Twitter: Keeping up the hard work 👊 https://t.co/YnSnKClUwl (@SouthamptonFC)
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This suggests that he is nearing a return to fitness and could be involved against West Ham at the weekend.
Already being in full team training is a good sign of his progression, rather than just training on his own with the fitness coaches, as it seems he has already been cleared for match-like situations and contact.
Should Walker-Peters come back in against the Hammers?
No. Even though he appears to be recovering well from his injury, Ward-Prowse produced an excellent performance against Villa and proved that he can do a job at right-back. This means that Walker-Peters can be given another week or so to fully recover and make sure that he is 100% fit before playing, in order to avoid potentially aggravating the injury.
Ward-Prowse recorded a WhoScored rating of 7.6 against Villa, the highest individual rating of any right-back for Southampton in a Premier League game this season.
This suggests that he could still be a great option against West Ham this week, as Southampton go in search of back-to-back wins.
