Phil Sumbler
Swansea City are carefully managing the return to fitness of both Joe Allen and Jamie Paterson but the good news on both players is that neither are far away from a return to first team squad duty.
Paterson has not featured since the home defeat to Sheffield United whilst Allen went off injured just a few days later when the Swans defeated Hull in their last outing at the Swansea.com stadium.
A two week international break has been followed by a week where the Swans picked up maximum points against West Brom and Watford but both games passed by without the injured duo.
And Russell Martin has confirmed that neither will play a part in today’s game against Sunderland but he also revealed that Allen is slightly nearer a return than Paterson with a possibility being he could feature against Burnley next weekend.
Speaking yesterday Martin told Wales Online “With Joe, we just have to be careful really, we all want him back as quickly as possible. He’s trained, but training and doing parts of training are very different to playing.
“The games we’ve had, you have to take those into account. West Brom and Watford away, probably two of the most athletic teams in the league.
“We have to pick the right moment with Joe. We’ll assess him again today and see where we’re at. He’ll be a huge part of the conversation. It’s probably more likely that we’re looking towards next week.”
When asked about Paterson, Martin responded “He’s at quite a late stage now in his rehab. He’s getting there. He’s been really frustrated that he hasn’t been able to deliver the best version of himself on the pitch yet.
“Fair play, he tried to battle through it. We’ve seen everyone and anyone about it to try and help him. He’s had to have a couple of weeks out which has been really frustrating for him. But I think we’re close to getting rid of it and him being able to move on. It’s a bit of short-term pain with Pato, him being out of the squad.”
