Long set for Baggies return

Striker expected to face Wolves following spell out

Last Updated: February 7, 2012 12:32pm

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Shane Long: Set to be available for the trip to Wolves after a recent spell on the sidelines

Sky Bet

Shane Long is expected to be back in contention for this weekend's derby at Wolves and West Brom manager Roy Hodgson hopes he will finally start to forge a successful partnership with Peter Odemwingie.

Long and Odemwingie have both had injury problems this season and as a result have not had the opportunity to play together as often as Hodgson would have liked.

Marc-Antoine Fortune has come in and performed well but Hodgson is looking forward to welcoming Long back into the fold.

The Republic of Ireland international could face Wolves at Molineux on Sunday after being sidelined in recent weeks with back and digestive problems.

Hodgson said: "I make no bones about saying that, at the start of the season, Long and Odemwingie were the two that we thought could push us on.

"With the various injuries that they have suffered, we haven't really seen a sequence of games where those two have played together.

"We are fortunate Marc-Antoine Fortune has recently stepped into the breach. But Long is likely to be back in contention for the Wolves game and we hope they can kick on."