Angus Brayshaw and Heritier Lumumba are likely starters for Melbourne against Essendon

MELBOURNE young gun Angus Brayshaw is expected to be fit for Saturday’s clash against Essendon despite suffering a neck injury last weekend.

Pictured is Melbourne Football Club AFL training at Casey Fields in Cranbourne East on 9 July 2015. Angus Brayshaw tests his injured neck out at training. Picture: Derrick den Hollander

MELBOURNE young gun Angus Brayshaw is expected to be fit for Saturday’s clash against Essendon despite suffering a neck injury last weekend.

One of Melbourne’s brightest young players, Brayshaw was subbed out of the loss to West Coast last Saturday night with the injury but has been cleared by doctors.

Brayshaw trained with his teammates at Casey Fields on Thursday morning and coach Paul Roos expects the first-year midfielder to play.

“From a medical point of view, he’s been cleared (to play),” Roos said on Thursday.

“It’s just whether he gets through training today. We certainly expect him to play.”

The Demons are also expected to be boosted by the inclusion of Heritier Lumumba, who has recovered from a foot problem that saw him miss the loss to the Eagles.

Fellow midfielder Aaron Vandenberg is in the mix to return after overcoming a hamstring injury sustained against Collingwood on Queen’s Birthday.

Heritier Lumumba is also expected to play after missing last week with a foot problem. Picture: Michael Klein

The Demons face an under pressure Essendon on Saturday, a team they’ve had the wood over in recent seasons, winning four of their last five encounters, including a memorable last-minute victory last year.

Roos’s team will head into the clash against the Jobe Watson-less Bombers as favourites but the Demons coach is just hoping for a better performance than last week’s 55-point loss to West Coast.

“We need to respond ourselves from our performance last week,” Roos said.

“Clearly over the journey — we got beaten by 100 and something points by Hawthorn — so we’ve had out fair share. I don’t know whether their backs are closer to the wall than ours.

“We need to come and respond from last week.”

Originally published as Angus Brayshaw and Heritier Lumumba are likely starters for Melbourne against Essendon