Sam Allardyce looks certain to continue with an unchanged team as they bid to extend their revival of fortunes against Southampton on Saturday.
And that means no start for inspirational defender Winston Reid – now of course fully recovered.
Reid and Andy Carroll would be considered perhaps by most as the team’s top players but a training ground source said: “The manager rarely changes the team until it is beaten and that Reid looks certain to make his usual appearance after about 70 minutes.
He added: “He’s very unlikely to change a winning team and that’s probably exactly as it should be. There may of course be an exception in the case of Carroll!”
