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Steven Fletcher is set to win his fitness battle ahead of the League Cup semi final against Manchester United.
The Scotland striker was surprisingly dropped to the bench when Sunderland faced Southampton on the weekend, fueling rumours of some kind of bust-up with the management. Those rumours turned out to be false, though, with Gus Poyet confirming after the game that Fletcher was struggling with an Achilles injury.
However, Poyet has since confirmed to reporters that the former-Wolves man is fully available again. He told The Sunderland Echo:
The injury is fine.
We were very good with the way we dealt with the initial inflammation of the Achilles. He trained yesterday and today with no problems.
I was trying not use to him, but you saw what happened.
But he didn’t damage his Achilles in those 20 minutes and was alright after having Sunday off.
The big question now, of course, is does he start? Jozy Altidore is perhaps more ideally suited to a counter-attacking backs-to-the-wall game, but Fletcher is far more likely to nick a goal.
It's an interesting decision for Poyet to make. Feel free to register your view in the poll below.