Steve Bruce has handed thousands of fantasy managers a huge boost by declaring that he expcects Darren Bent to be fit and available for the home game with West Ham this weekend…

Bent suffered a knee injury in last weekend’s defeat at Birmingham but Bruce has nursed him through the week, leaving him out of Tuesday’s Carling Cup lineup against Villa. As a result, Bent appears to have made a good recovery according to the Black Cats boss…

“We didn’t take any risks with him during the week and it’s mainly been rest and recuperation for him because he jarred his knee badly in the game…But he’s responded well and I expect him to be available for what is an important game to us.”

The news will come as a massive relief for many of us, given that Bent has been subject to a huge number of transfers over the past few weeks as a result of his outstanding start to the season.

Meanwhile, Bruce has revealed that Bardsley, McCartney and Campbell remain doubts for the weekend, while Zenden and Mensah have only an outside chance of being avaialble.