He's been written off time and again, but USA striker Aron Johannsson is back - and he's making a telling contribution to Werder Bremen's push for Bundesliga survival.

The 27-year-old had a direct hand in both goals as Bremen secured a last-gasp win over Schalke last weekend - a result that lifted the Green-Whites out of the relegation zone for the first time since the opening day of the 2017/18 campaign. He then followed up that praiseworthy performance with a wonderfully taken goal - his first since September 2016 - in the midweek DFB Cup quarter-final defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.

"Aron played really well," Bremen head coach Florian Kohfeldt said of Johannsson's energetic run-out against Bayer. "I didn't take him off because of his performance. He picked up a knock to his hip, and it went numb, but it's nothing we need to worry about. He should return on Sunday for the Wolfsburg game."

The diagnosis will come as much as a relief to Kohfeldt as it does to Johannsson. The Alabama native has been beset by injury since moving to Bremen from Dutch side Alkmaar in summer 2015, sitting out 49 matches and featuring in just 22 - for the most part because of a serious hip problem. He fell down the pecking order as a result and was widely expected to take his search for fitness, form and first-team football elsewhere.