Roy Hodgson says James McArthur is back on the training field as he continues his recovery from an “unusual” injury that has kept him out of action since January. However, three months on and there has been no sign of the Scotland international. Hodgson says that it has been a difficult injury to assess, and that McArthur is working hard to make a comeback before the end of the season.
Roy Hodgson said: “I think it’s OK. It’s an unusual injury, not one that’s quite as easy to follow as some. A clear muscle strain, for example, you know it’s going to take two or three weeks. Because this one is slightly different to that, and that’s got to do with old scar tissue. It’s making it a little bit more difficult for us to put a timeline on it. He’s out there every day. He’s back out on the field now training, albeit with the rehabilitation people. I’m seriously hoping, being who he is and the type of player he is, we’ll see him again before the end of the season. Because he’s a hard man to pin down. To be honest, if anyone’s ever going to play through injuries, it’s James McArthur. I’m hoping that that’s going to work out. But it’s a blow that this injury, when it first occurred and was first diagnosed, we had no thought at the time that this is going to keep him out for weeks on end, he’s going to miss game after game. We thought it was going to be: ‘well he might miss the next game, or possibly two and then he’s back’. But it hasn’t been the case. We owe a lot to his determination to make himself available to help the team out in these last games, if we’re going to see him for them.”
