Russell Martin offers Swansea City team news update ahead of Norwich City clash | OneFootball

Russell Martin has confirmed that Swansea City’s World Cup quartet will be in contention for selection this weekend.

Joe Allen, Ben Cabango, Olivier Ntcham and Ollie Cooper will all be available following their exploits in Qatar.

Allen, Cabango and Cooper all represented Wales, who were eliminated in the group stage against England, USA and Iran.

Meanwhile, Ntcham suffered the same fate while performing with Cameroon, losing out in a group with Brazil, Switzerland and Serbia.

Martin is optimistic with the outlook of his squad going into this weekend’s clash with Norwich City.

The Swansea manager believes the four week break has helped the team to put in good work on the training ground in attempts to improve.

However, he did confirm that Michael Obafemi and Liam Walsh will be unavailable on Saturday due to injury.

“The squad is looking really good, we have looked great out on the training pitch,” said Martin, via Swansea’s official website.

“We pretty much have nearly everyone fit now.

“Liam Walsh has returned to the grass, too, although it will be a while until he trains fully, but it’s great to see him take that big step and the lads all clapped him out onto the training pitch earlier this week, which was a really nice moment.

“The break has been really good for us, we organised it really well and I was pleased with the work we got in.

“We are in a good place to come back and hopefully pick up where we left off.

“Harry Darling and Michael Obafemi did not play in Scotland as they had little niggles.

“Michael picked up his with Ireland and is unlikely to make this weekend.

“But Harry is back in and ready.

“Everyone else is fit, we’ve got the World Cup boys back and we are really looking forward to it.”

Quiz: 10 of these 25 Swansea City facts are fake – Can you identify them?

1 of 25

Swansea City is based in England

Real Fake

Four draws from their last five league games has seen Swansea drop down to 8th in the Championship table.

But a win over Norwich could lift Russell Martin’s side into the play-off places, and will see them leapfrog the Canaries in the standings.

The two teams meet on 10 December in a 3pm kick-off.

The Verdict

The break has come at a good time for Swansea as it has allowed the team to rest up and get back up to full fitness.

The loss of Obafemi is a blow, as the Irishman has been quite an important part of some of the side’s best performances in recent months.

But having the quartet back from the World Cup will be a boost to Martin’s selection options.

Especially as having a player of Cabango’s quality back into the team will help the side’s chances of remaining competitive.