Birmingham City make the trip to Bristol City in the Championship on Friday night, but they are going to be without a number of injured players it would appear.
The Blues were last in action in the FA Cup in midweek, where they needed penalties to see off League One side Coventry City, but that victory has come at a huge cost.
Josh McEachran exited the match after just 18 minutes, with the Birmingham midfielder now confirmed to have ruptured his ACL and is set for a period in the treatment room.
He was not the only Blues man to pick up an injury in that outing, as Jacques Maghoma limped off in the game and is reported to have picked up a thigh problem.
Birmingham boss Pep Clotet confirmed the issues and provided updates on some other members of his squad when he addressed the media ahead of the clash with Bristol City, beginning with McEachran.
“He is facing a tough moment,” the Blues official website quotes him as saying.
“He knows he has all our support of everyone at the Club.
“He is facing an ACL injury that will take him months away and he needs surgery.
“It is very similar to the one suffered by Maikel Kieftenbeld – six-to-nine months.
“I spoke to him this morning, he has never had an injury before, I saw him very focused, very mature about this situation.
“He knows the ACL these days is not a career finisher like it was, it is a bump on the road.
“He (Maghoma) does not require surgery but we are estimating six weeks away for him.”
Clotet then moved on to a couple of Birmingham players who have been out injured in recent times, where there was slightly more positive news.
“Dan Crowley looks like he’s in the last moments of his recovery,” the St Andrew’s Stadium boss continued.
“We will possibly look to integrate him in training on Sunday, but we will assess if he’s ready because we don’t want to take extra risks.
“And Kerim (Mrabti) is possibly a couple of weeks behind him.
“Maikel (Kieftenbeld) I’m expecting him to play today (for the Under-23s) for 75 minutes, and possibly be ready to be on the bench very, very soon.”
Clotet is going to be forced into a couple of changes for the trip to Ashton Gate, but given their FA Cup tie ended less than 72 hours before the Friday night clash kicks off, there could be other switches to the starting XI on top.
Birmingham are 17th in the Championship standings before the weekend’s action starts and will be keen to record a morale-boosting victory to move the club away from the lower echelons of the table.
