"can only be expected" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is typically used to express that something is predictable or inevitable, given certain circumstances. Example: When you keep procrastinating, a poor grade on the assignment can only be expected.
The government can only be expected to meet so many needs and that expectation is at the saturation point.
Thus, a sustainable change can only be expected, if its gains are evaluated higher than its losses.
Most people aren't ascetics, and they can only be expected to moderate consumption if they can be shown that they can still have equally satisfying lives.
As the possibility of retirement recedes yet further into the distance for many of us, fears about work can only be expected to grow.
The pressure to comply with accessibility standards can only be expected to increase in the future, but legislation on the state level may prove unnecessary.
Eight weeks is only a short period in the lifetime of the tested polymers and complete bone regeneration can only be expected after complete polymer degradation.
Raised in a home where nothing is sacred - where all is suspect - children can only be expected to have a most cynical and suspect attitude toward others.
And surely a season of transition can only be expected of a man following the most successful manager the game has known.
"In this light, the BioIndustry Association can only be expected to advertise the contacts it has had with ministers and the attempts that they have made to influence their policy decisions".
A team, though, can only be expected to achieve what it sets out to do at various stages of a tournament and England can point to their position as group leaders for this particular end justifying the means.
"Such a bold step can only be expected from a master, not from a pupil or imitator, and is doubly remarkable in that it comes so early in a new phase of Rembrandt's development".
