The injury to Matty James occurred at the same time as Bristol City’s dismal performance in late February and early March.
Experienced midfielders Matty James and Joe Williams are “on track” to make a return against Leicester City on Good Friday, according to Bristol City head coach Liam Manning.
James, 32, returned to full training on Monday ahead of his former club’s visit to Ashton Gate. James had missed the previous five games due to an achilles condition, which he has had injections to try to treat.
Williams, on the other hand, has returned to work at the High Performance Centre after missing the 2-0 loss against West Brom before the international break because of a sore hamstring.
Manning will greatly benefit from their availability given that City is now experiencing a difficult run of five losses in their previous six games, which has increased fan dissatisfaction with the team and head coach. James’ absence has been noticed greatly by the Robins considering their performance in the games he has missed, not only as a midfield presence but also in his leadership and organisation.
They are still on course, Manning said to bcfc.co.uk. “Hopefully, by the end of the week, we’ll see them. Jamo is a little ahead of Joe. He is in full training, so we’ll see how he is.” Joe is also in training.
City’s roster and Mannings’s selection possibilities should be much expanded for the weekend because on Easter Monday, the team will travel to Plymouth Argyle after their match against Leicester.
The only confirmed injuries will be hamstring injuries to Sam Bell, Rob Atkinson, and Kal Naismith, as well as a calf injury to playmaker Scott Twine, on loan from The Hawthorns. The Robins are also awaiting the return of Mark Sykes and Jason Knight from their international duty with the Republic of Ireland.
Knight played the last 20 minutes of Saturday’s match against Belgium while Sykes was not used as a replacement; both players may participate in tonight’s friendly versus Switzerland at the Aviva Stadium.
They will have just one day and one complete session at the HPC before Leicester because Wednesday will be spent traveling and recuperating.
“We’ll have to make a decision and see depending on what Tuesday looks like because Ireland obviously has a game, so that brings a different challenge, depending on what they do in the game, and will return back on Wednesday,” Manning continued. “Obviously with the Tuesday-Friday, it’s not ideal scheduling but is one that is consistent for everybody.”
Tommy Conway and Dire Mebude, both Scotland Under-21 internationals, are back in Bristol following their participation in last Thursday’s 4-1 victory over Kazakhstan.
