Leyton Orient head coach Ross Embleton is looking forward to have a selection headache rather than the stress he has faced due to Covid-19 in recent weeks.

The Os make the long trip to Barrow on Saturday and then also head to Walsall on Tuesday in yet another tough week of fixtures.

Embleton has rotated his squad a lot so far this season to keep players fresh, with a fair few impressing on different occassions.

“My sleepless nights have all been related to Covid, symptoms and protocols over the last two weeks, so it will be nice to have a few headaches now in terms of selection,” Embleton said.

“I’ve always maintained that I have incredible faith in the players that we have here and I love working with the squad and group that we’ve got.

“It’s my job to pick the best team to go and win a game of football, then it’s also my job to manage the ones in terms of the disappointment when they miss out, but we’re in a good place.”

O’s boss Embleton will have another option at his disposal this week after they moved to sign West Ham United defender Olatunji Akinola on a season-long loan.

The 21-year-old ball-playing centre-back has made over 50 appearances for West Ham under-23s and played 90 minutes against Orient in pre-season.

Embleton is delighted to have Akinola for the season, having spent a long time monitoring the player.

He added: “He’s a player that we have been following and talking to West Ham about for a long time now. There were plenty of things we had to make sure were right for Tunji and right for us. We’re delighted to have him and look forward to working with him.

“We were very close to another one, but were let down, so that was a disappointment. I think I’ve said already in terms of recruitment what we don’t want to do is overload in too many areas.

“We know we need to be prepared for situations like tonight (EFL Trophy, Tuesday) where we lost Lee Angol, but at the same time when you bring players in, you want to see a route into the first team for them and we have a number of players that can play in different positions.

“I’ve got my eye on one or two, we’ve got a bit of cushion now as the main window has closed, and I would hope to see maybe one more.”