William Gallas is in contention to make his first league start of the season at Fulham on Saturday after successfully negotiating last night’s Europa League defeat by Rubin Kazan as he comes back from a calf injury.

Croatian playmaker Luka Modric is expected to shake off a slight groin problem to line up in the London derby but Roman Pavlyuchenko will be monitored carefully over the weekend after coming off with a back injury in Russia. Injured trio Giovani dos Santos (calf), Vedran Corluka (foot) and Danny Rose (ankle) may face fitness tests and there are also doubts over Michael Dawson (achilles), Niko Krancjar (thigh) and Tom Huddlestone (ankle).

Manager Harry Redknapp is expected to miss the trip to Fulham as he recovers from hurt surgery but is confident of making a ‘speedy recovery’.