Huddersfield Town forward Elias Kachunga has recovered from his Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) knee injury that he picked up in mid- December and has returned to first-team training.
The Democratic Republic of Congo international scored his first Premier League goal on 16th December at Vicarage Road against Watford with six minutes.
However, just over ten minutes later he was stretchered off the pitch after a collision with Hornet’s keeper Heurelho Gomes.
Later scans revealed the extent of the injury, and since then he has been working hard with Town’s physios and fitness coaches to help him return back to full fitness.
He has also returned to first team training within the last week, which could see him feature on the team sheet against Crystal Palace on Saturday, for the first time in almost three months.
“I’m happy to be back”
On his return to training, the 25-year-old said: “I’m really happy [to be back in training]. I think it’s been a long time since I’ve been out and with the team.”
“Last week I trained with the team and this week was the proper week with them on the grass. I’m really happy to be back,” he added.
It seems Kachunga has been finding his road to recovery quite challenging.
He said: “I think everyone who plays football knows how hard it is when you can only stay in the gym, train on your own and only go on the grass with the fitness coach to do your runs – doing all the stuff you have to do.”
“I’m happy to be back with the team – to make jokes with my teammates and have fun on the pitch,” the forward added.
‘Kache’ then emphasised the criticality of the upcoming games, knowing that the Terriers will need to pick up some points in the race for survival.
“We’ve got some really important games coming up. I think the next game against Crystal Palace is really important for us at home," he said.
"We need the three points to make a big step in the right direction for us.”
Kachunga is hopeful for a return for himself this weekend, as he commented: “I hope I have a good week and then hopefully on the weekend I might be on the grass.”