Chris Coleman has provided an injury boost over the fitness of Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong.
The Welshman has also revealed Jonny Williams is one week away from returning to training after dislocating his shoulder in the November against Millwall.
Having been forced to shuffle his pack over the hectic festive period and in last weekend’s Emirates FA Cup tie, Coleman has received an injury boost with Ivorian defender Kone and Gabon midfielder Ndong returning to training this week.
While the pair are not expected to feature in Saturday’s match at Cardiff City, Coleman has told safc.com the pair are making good progress with their recovery while Williams nears a return as well.
“We were always going to be extremely light going to Middlesbrough,” he said.
“It was always going to be a tough task for us. We have had one or two back training - Lamine Kone was back training on Tuesday but he has been out for eight weeks and hasn’t had any type of football so there is absolutely no chance of him being involved at the weekend.
“Didier Ndong trained but again, he has had no football in the last couple of weeks.
“That is why those players reinjure themselves because they have had no football, maybe they have had 45 minutes with the under-23s and obviously if you are out longer than a 90 minute and a 60-minute run out before they come to us.
“But because needs must they have been rushed back to come straight back to the first team and then the physical level is just too much for them.
“A lot of times they reinjure. Some good news is that Jonny Williams is probably another week or so away before he can start joining in.
“That is really good news. Adam Matthews trained today and trained well which is another plus,” he continued.
“I don’t think we will be as bad as we were last weekend in terms of numbers and we will improve with Jake coming in from Chelsea.”
