Craig Bellamy required treatment on the pitch towards the end of Wednesday’s win over Arsenal, and he along, with Stephen Ireland, is rated doubtful for tomorrow’s visit from the league leaders.
“There are a couple of worries; Craig has a bang on his knee, as does Stevie. They have not trained today so they are not certain for tomorrow,” reported the manager who has Nigel de Jong and Robinho waiting in the wings.
Another who may be struggling is Vladimir Weiss but this time through illness not injury.
The Slovakian flyer made a big impact during his late cameo appearance against Arsenal, notching his first goal for City and repaying the faith shown in him by the Blues’ boss, but a swift follow up may not be on the cards.
“We have high hopes for Vladi, but he is a little bit under the weather at the moment,” the manager went on.
He is struggling with his tonsils so he could be out of the frame as well. He’s at the point where he now has my trust, which is always important for young players.
...Mark Hughes on Vladimir Weiss
“I have to know that if I introduce them they will make more right decisions than one wrong ones, which he is doing in training and in games when he has been introduced. It’s great for him as a young player to make an impact.”
There’s better news on Martin Petrov, absent since picking up a knee injury in the last international break, while de Jong is back in the reckoning after being rested for the Carling Cup quarter final.
“Martin’s back and fit to play,” Hughes confirmed. “He’s had a week’s training now, he was not quite ready for Wednesday but he is available. We just rested Nigel for Arsenal with a view to this game so he is in my thinking.”
The visit of Carlo Ancelotti’s side marks the end of an intense week and with City safely into a cup semi final and in the mix at the correct end of the Barclays Premier League table, Hughes is happy with progress.
“We have always split up the season into manageable phases,” he reported. “It’s hard to focus from the first game to the last in a season, so to keep our intensity where it needs to be we look at natural breaks in the season. After Hull we were two breaks into the season, and we are two points from where we thought we would be.
“The frustration is that instead of three points we have collected one at times, but in terms of the targets we set ourselves, we are doing OK.”
