Huddersfield boss David Wagner is confident his captain Christopher Schindler will win his fitness battle in time to face Burnley on Saturday.
Fellow defender Terence Kongolo (hamstring) is definitely out and Schindler’s absence due to a knee injury would be a major blow to the Terriers’ hopes of registering their first Premier League win of the season.
“Christopher Schindler was on the grass (on Thursday) and will be with the team (on Friday),” Wagner said. “He will make a final test (on Friday) and then we will decide if he’s available. If he is ready then he will start.”
Schindler had been ever-present in the Premier League this season before being withdrawn in the second half of last week’s home defeat to Tottenham.
Kongolo had also started every league game and he will be sidelined for up to five weeks after leaving the field on a stretcher following his last-ditch tackle on Spurs’ Lucas Moura in the first half.
The Terriers’ latest defeat kept them bottom of the table and their only points this season have come via draws against Cardiff and Everton.
Huddersfield have failed to score a goal in their last six matches at the John Smith’s Stadium – they have scored three on the road – but Wagner still remains upbeat.
“There are so many good signs for me, apart from the table and the points to be fair, which we have here after seven games,” he said.
“We have unity, the supporters are still strongly behind the team, the performances are on a very good level, consistently, and we have a spirit in the dressing room.
“All these things don’t look like a team which is bottom of the league, but we are.
“But as long as all these things are positive I have every confidence that we can turn results around.”
Wagner was also full of praise for midfielder Philip Billing, named Terriers’ player of the month and this week named in Denmark’s under-21s squad after an impressive start to the campaign.
“He’s grown. He’s become a man,” Wagner added. “He looks very mature in his game, makes a lot of good decisions and is able to protect the ball.
“He has everything and everybody knows it and now he’s consistently showing it. I know he’s desperate for more and I need more from him.
“Sometimes you thought ‘come on, what are you doing with all your potential and talent?’ He wasn’t consistent, but now he is.
“He has everything to become a top Premier League player if he keeps the desire and passion and the love to keep learning.”
