STEVEN FLETCHER is set to start for Sunderland at Leicester City on Saturday and manager Gus Poyet has expressed his relief that his leading scorer is not facing a further spell on the sidelines.

The Scotland international had to miss out on Tuesday night’s defeat to England at Celtic Park because of an ankle problem.

The injury raised fears that Fletcher would be ruled out for another decent amount of time having endured previous ankle problems in the past.

But Fletcher, who suffered his latest niggle against the Republic of Ireland last Friday, has returned to Wearside showing decent fitness and hopes are high that he will be available for the trip to the Foxes.

Poyet, who watched the striker train this morning comfortably, said: “Fletcher trained. We are not expecting anything to happen on Friday. He was touch and go for a few days but he seems fine.

“We gave him the time to rest his ankle. We hope he will be OK on Saturday. For an hour and a half it was not great when I watched the game on Friday. It was not a great feeling but hopefully he is OK.”

Defender Sebastien Coates and winger Ricky Alvarez also trained this week and could be called upon if Poyet thinks the time is right. He said: “They are very excited about it and have a chance to play.”

The Sunderland boss is optimistic about what lies ahead and scheduled talks with sporting director Lee Congerton during the international break will take place this afternoon.

A meeting had been due to go ahead on Tuesday but was put back until today, so the pair will meet up later to discuss Connor Wickham’s contract situation and transfer targets for January.