BOBBY Grant is back from suspension for Latics but is “highly unlikely” to feature at Walsall after recently contracting Covid-19.

The forward was sent off against Harrogate on Boxing Day and his three-match ban is up.

And while the Wrexham loanee has trained ahead of the trip to the Banks's Stadium, boss Harry Kewell has revealed that the 30-year-old has been struggling with coronavirus during his few weeks out of action.

It means the Latics boss has a decision to make given the potential after-effects Grant will be battling.

“He’s served his ban but he has had Covid and he’s struggled very badly with it,” Kewell told The Oldham Times.

“That’s still a close one. He’s trained but whether putting him in is the right thing to do on a professional level, we’ll wait and see.

“Sometimes you’ve got to take it out of the players’ hands and they’ll argue, they’ll be disappointed.

“He’s been out for three weeks and he’s suffered badly with it. It’s highly unlikely but we’ll see.”

Kewell is also still waiting for concrete news on the extent of the injury suffered by Zak Dearnley against Mansfield on Wednesday night but the frontman is set to be out of the Saddlers clash.

The 22-year-old’s stop-start season continued as he limped off less than 25 minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute in the 3-2 defeat at Boundary Park.

The former Manchester United man has been scanned with Latics still waiting on the results.

“I don’t think Zak’s going to be right for this weekend’s game,” Kewell said.

“We’re just still waiting on a few scans to come back and confirm exactly what’s happened.

“It’s unfortunate because he’s such a good kid, he wants to give his all for the club but unfortunately this is football.

“He’s in good hands. The medical staff here are excellent so we’re going to be doing everything we possibly can to get him right.”

With Latics players now subject to twice-weekly Covid-19 testing after the EFL struck a deal with the Professional Footballers' Association, the players all came through the first round negative earlier in the week.

The second lot of tests was being carried out on Friday afternoon.