REP OF IRELAND SQUAD NEWS:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI looks set to have a full Republic of Ireland squad available for Friday's European Championship qualifier against Russia with Damien Duff - the only injury casualty from the weekend's club games - expected to be passed fit to play by the FAI's medical staff this afternoon.
Duff picked up a head wound in Saturday's draw between Fulham and West Ham and while the Dubliner subsequently appeared to be limping as he left the pitch 20 minutes before the end, it is believed that the cut above his eye was his only significant injury.
The winger arrived back home last night and will report along with the rest of the players to the squad's Portmarnock hotel at noon today when he will be assessed
However, the feeling last night was that he will be ready to compete for a place in Friday evening's starting line-up and, it is hoped, next Tuesday's in Slovakia, after missing the opening two games of the campaign due to a calf strain.
Duff has traditionally been an automatic starter for the team but he perhaps faces a greater challenge now for his place than he has been used to with both Aiden McGeady and Liam Lawrence giving Trapattoni very strong alternatives with their form of late.
Lawrence continued to thrive at his new club Portsmouth over the weekend, laying on one goal and scoring the other - his second successful spot kick of the week - as Portsmouth came from two down to secure a point at Middlesbrough.
McGeady, meanwhile, won considerable praise from the Italian in Duff's absence last month and the former Celtic player helped his new club, Spartak Moscow, to maintain its recent improvement in form yesterday, playing all 90 minutes of a 1-0 win over Anzhi Makhachkala.
Duff aside, there appeared to be few new concerns for Trapattoni over the weekend other than the number of important players who failed to see much competitive action.
While Richard Dunne made a welcome return from injury for Aston Villa in their 2-1 Premier League defeat at White Hart Lane, Spurs striker Robbie Keane failed to feature.
Keith Andrews also had to sit out Blackburn's visit to Stoke where Glenn Whelan only came on as an injury-time substitute.
John O'Shea, on the other hand, was a member of the Manchester United defence praised by Alex Ferguson after the scoreless draw at Sunderland on Saturday while Kevin Doyle turned in an industrious performance for Wolverhampton as they lost 2-0 at Wigan.
Having been called into the squad on Friday, Seamus Coleman helped Everton to their first win of the season with the young Donegal man playing 86 minutes of the 2-0 victory at St Andrews before being replaced by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, a possible starter for the Russians on Friday.
In the English Championship, Keith Treacy maintained his impressive start to the season with another goal for Preston as the club drew 1-1 with Reading.
Ian Harte, who indicated over the weekend that he would still like to receive a recall to the international set-up at some stage, set up the visitors' equaliser with from a corner.
