Injuries for Walsall? Why Chey Dunkley's debut looks set to be delayed for a while

Saturday’s encounter with the Saddlers could see the likes of Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Izzy Brown and Elias Kachunga get their first competitive outing in blue and white, while Josh Windass could make his debut appearance as a permanent Owls player in the West Midlands, but the game should come too soon for Chey Dunkley.

Garry Monk and the SWFC recruitment team have had a busy few weeks as they look to build a squad capable of overcoming the 12-point deficit that they find themselves with, and with just over a week until Championship action returns, the manager says they’re almost at full strength.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, the Owls boss said, “We’re fully fit. Osaze (Urhoghide) is making good progress, he should be joining back in with the training very soon.

“With Chey, we knew when he came in that he would be a little while behind the others. But he’s making strong progress and we’re looking for him to be up for selection very soon… Otherwise we’ve got a fully fit squad.”

Urhoghide has battled with a knee injury since the end of the 2019/20 season while Dunkley hasn’t played since suffering a double leg break while at Wigan Athletic back in February.