The Blues last outing, a 1-1 draw at Villa Park last week, ended with Kolo Toure and Pablo Zabaleta picking up heel and hamstring injuries right at the end of the game. Nigel de Jong had already left the fray by that point, but since then Craig Bellamy and Martin Petrov have also picked up knocks that will prevent them from training today (Friday).
Also on the injured list is Joleon Lescott, who was forced to drop out of the England squad with a calf problem, and of his walking wounded the City boss said:
“We have a couple of doubts. Kolo has not trained since Villa due to the bang on the heel he received there, and Craig Bellamy has a little bit of stiffness in his groin. He did not finish training on Thursday and will not train today.
“We’re hopeful on Zabaleta but there is not a guarantee that he will be fit and well. Nigel de Jong is a little bit sore, and Martin Petrov also won’t train today because of a sore knee.
Joleon will be out with the physios today, and we’re more hopeful on him than on Kolo in fairness
Mark Hughes
Hughes remains hopeful, and has fingers crossed that playing on Sunday will work to his advantage.
“With 48 hours to the game, things can still resolve themselves. We will give everybody the maximum time to give them a chance to play. With the start we have made we don’t want to go into games making wholesale changes because of injuries, so it’s a case of hoping that over the next 24 to 48 hours everything will settle down.”
