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Andre Ayew: Swansea City uncertain of Ghana attacker's availability for Derby County showdown
Jack Army manager Steve Cooper has delivered a new update on the Ghanaian’s fitness ahead of Saturday’s Championship fixture
Swansea City deputy captain Andre Ayew is an injury doubt for the club’s penultimate Championship season clash with Derby County on Saturday.
The Ghana international is struggling to shake off a hamstring problem during a clash with Wycombe Wanderers three matchdays back.
After sitting out the subsequent 1-0 loss to Queens Park Rangers, the 31-year-old made a scoring return against Reading last week, a match in which he suffered a relapse according to Swansea City boss Steve Cooper.
"I think we need to get the balance right. There’s still two games left to play. A lot of good can come out from that in terms of results and performances. A lot of players are in good form and we want to keep the momentum going,” said the manager, as reported by his club’s official website on Thursday.
"There’s a few lads like Andre [Ayew] who’s struggling a little bit physically that we need to be careful with. He wasn’t 100 per cent against Reading, and in an ideal world we wouldn’t have used him. He’s had a little setback, but he’s not completely out for Saturday – if he is then he should be fine for Watford.
"Resting players, it’ll only be because they medically can’t play, it won’t be because they physically can’t play.
“There’s two games to play and we want to play well and win those. There’s two weeks of work which we will respect, then we’ll focus on the play-offs.”
Ayew’s return against Reading was emphatic as it could be as he did not only register a goal but also made a significant contribution with a sweet backheel nutmeg which led to Swansea’s other strike on the day.
The 2-2 draw against The Royals secured The Jack Army a place in the Championship play-off round where they will battle Brentford, Bournemouth and Barnsley for the last available promotion ticket for the Premier League.
The Ghanaian currently stands as the side’s top scorer so far this term, having made 42 league appearances and scored 16 times. His goal tally is two better than Jamaica striker Jamal Lowe.
