“It is better news,” Hodgson said in his pre-match press conference. “Although, we lost James Tomkins yesterday unfortunately to a calf injury. He is having a scan today.
“I hope it’s not serious but that one is a bit of a blow because until yesterday he was there as well.
“We’re down now really to [Michael] Olise, [Ebere] Eze, [Dean] Henderson who have been injured for a period of time, and Jeff Schlupp who came off injured in our last game against Nottingham Forest, and although he is getting quickly better he has not recovered in time for our game tomorrow.
“The only other one, who hasn’t really been in the first-team squad for a while now unfortunately, is Nathan Ferguson, but the good news for him is that he is playing some games for the Under-21s team and making progress, so even that is very positive news.”
Speaking in the embargoed section of his press conference, Hodgson also confirmed that Joel Ward, Cheick Doucouré and Jefferson Lerma are all available for selection on Saturday.
The news will come as a relief to Hodgson, who was without those players, Odsonne Edouard – and more – for periods before the break.