Woodgate has suffered no reaction to his hamstring injury since playing in the 1-0 win over Sunderland and has only been involved in light training this week to ensure he is available for the weekend.
With Aaron Hughes looking likely to be the only regular full back available to Sir Bobby on Saturday, the coaching staff are keen to push O’Brien into action on the right side of defence despite his nose injury.
"Andy is still in a bad way. His breathing is not very good at all and his nose is very sore," Sir Bobby told the Evening Chronicle.
"This is not surprising as it took an hour and a half for us to get the bleeding to stop at Sunderland on Saturday.
"But we will spend today and tomorrow trying to encourage him and trying to motivate him to play on Saturday. Certainly we have not ruled him out for the rest of the season."
"Jonathan has had a good reaction to playing at Sunderland, and while he has only been doing light training this week, he's fine."