Skrtel’s elbow caught Fletcher’s ear as they challenged for a ball in the second half of Scotland’s 1-0 win, forcing the midfielder to play the rest of the game bandaged up and requiring stitches.
West Brom 16/5 at Leicester
Despite his injury, 33-year-old Fletcher says he will be fit to play for Gordon Strachan’s side in Sunday’s crucial game against Slovenia.
“My ear looks like I’ve been bitten by Mike Tyson! But I’ll be all right for Sunday," he said.
“My ear was hanging off a little bit, so it definitely needed to be bandaged up or it would have been flapping around.
“I got a few stitches but it will heal up and should be all right for Sunday.
“I signalled to my kids in the stand at the end making sure they knew I was OK. When you see your dad go off with blood, you might be worried. I needed three or four stitches and some glue.”
A win over Slovenia will see Scotland secure second place in their World Cup qualifying group and, with a play-off place up for grabs, Fletcher says the team are confident of getting the job done.
“Beating Slovakia was a massive boost and puts us in a great position but we still have a job to do in Slovenia," he said.
“There’s a feel-good factor about the country at the moment but we’ve still got one game to go and even after that there is still the play-offs.
“There are still a lot of challenges ahead of us and what we want to achieve.
“If we could reach the play-offs that would be great but it is all about getting to the tournament in Russia.
“We still have a number of games to get to Russia and Slovakia was a small step towards getting there.
“It will be tough but this team believe we can go and win the game, and that’s the biggest thing.
“Momentum is a good thing in football and it is with us now.
“Once you score a couple of late goals you start to believe in yourselves as a team, and that is showing.”
