Gary Dicker is closing in on his first-team comeback for Albion.

The Irish midfielder has been earmarked to feature in the home game against Derby County on Tuesday week.

Dicker has not played since breaking a leg against West Ham at The Amex in October.

Boss Gus Poyet said: “He has just trained for one full week with us. We are not going to rush him back but when I see him training and what he does I like it, so it’s a problem.

“He doesn’t need to expend too much energy to be in the right position to make the ball move.”

Poyet believes Dicker’s return will also help Albion make better use of set-pieces.

He added: “That was one of the greatest things we had last year with Gary and Benno (Elliott Bennett). They knew what to do every single time we had a free-kick or corner.

“Now we are missing that player. Benno’s not here, so if Gary is fit he is going to be back very soon.”