GARRY Monk hopes his injury problems are behind him as he prepares to return against West Brom tonight.

The Swansea City captain is expected to feature in central defence after a month out with a calf problem.

It is Monk's second significant lay-off of the season — he missed all of November and most of December — and the 31-year-old has fingers crossed that he will now get a clear run.

"It's frustrating because I've never had soft-tissue injuries but this year I have had two, one in each calf," he said.

"It's disappointing because you miss a lot of games even when you are only out for four weeks, but that's the way it goes and you have to get on with it.

"You can never be sure, but hopefully the injury problems are over now.

"I have trained for the last few days and I'm looking forward to coming back for the most crucial part of the season."

With the clean sheets flowing, Monk has spent much of his time out being told by defensive colleagues that he is not required.

"Ashley Williams's banter is not very good," he added through a smile.

"Seriously, it's been great that we have carried on getting good results when you consider all the changes we've had to make.

"Usually you need a settled back four to get a good defensive record, but whoever has come in has done really well for us."

Monk comes back in to what is a crunch fixture as far as Swansea's automatic promotion hopes are concerned.

A win would see them move to within six points of the top two, but a West Brom victory would leave Swansea 12 adrift.

"It's a massive game because it probably lets us know whether we can catch second or not," he said.

"Even if we lose we will still have an eye on it, but a win would make it a bit more exciting for everyone."

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