West Ham United defender Claire Rafferty will be available for selection for this weekend’s FA Women’s Super League match with Everton, according to women’s lead physiotherapist Elena Jobson.
Rafferty was a notable absentee from the matchday squad against Liverpool last weekend, which Jobson has confirmed was due to a minor injury the defender had sustained.
However, the left-back has recovered and trained throughout the week, and will be an available option for Matt Beard when the Hammers play away to Everton this Sunday.
“Claire, as we know, was unfortunately not available last weekend due to a minor injury,” Jobson told whufc.com. “We have been looking at her recovery on a day-to-day basis, and we are happy with how she is feeling.
“She will be back in consideration for this week’s game with Everton. We are confident in her match fitness for Sunday’s game.”
Rafferty will be back in consideration for this week's game with Everton.
Elena Jobson
Another player missing on Sunday was centre-back Brooke Hendrix, who has undergone successful surgery on a broken nose sustained during a training session last week.
“Unfortunately, Brooke broke her nose because of a blow during training late last week,” Jobson continued. “Although she played against Manchester City with the protective mask on, with a new break we decided to play it on the safe side and take her out of consideration for the Liverpool match.
“I’m happy to say Brooke underwent successful surgery on Tuesday on her nose and now we have her back in non-contact training. She should be back in full training in the very near future.”
Jobson also offered an update on midfielder Lucienne Reichardt, who has not featured for the Irons in a couple of weeks due to a foot injury.
She continued: “Lucienne sustained a fracture in her foot and is therefore currently unavailable. While the injury hasn’t required surgery, we made the decision to put Lucienne in a protective boot, which I’m happy to say was taken off earlier this week.
“She’s doing really well with her recovery. Lucienne is now rehabilitating her foot and we are working with her to get her back on the training pitch as soon as possible.”
Tessel Middag is yet to feature for West Ham this campaign, after unfortunately sustaining an ACL injury over the summer, but Jobson says the midfielder is progressing well after the set-back.
Jobson added: “Tessel’s injury was very unfortunate. It’s her second ACL injury, but she is doing really well.
“She’s been rehabbing on a one-to-one basis in The Netherlands and we are receiving regular updates on her condition, and we are closely monitoring her developments.”