The Bulgarian winger limped out of Sunday’s draw with Fulham with a knee problem, while the City skipper landed badly on his already troublesome heel and was replaced late on by Vincent Kompany, who could now be in line for his first start of the season.
Wayne Bridge is also rated as doubtful, and of the trio the Manager said:
“Kolo is not fit, and neither is Martin, while there is a doubt over Wayne and he may well not be involved. Kolo and Martin should hopefully be alright for the weekend, but they are not quite right at the moment.
“They went for scans on Monday and they don’t have anything too serious, but Wednesday will be too soon for them.
We have gone strong with our team selection in previous rounds and I see no reason to change that.
...Mark Hughes...
“Wayne has a little bit of irritation behind the knee. It’s something that he has played with for some time, but has dealt with it and played on with it. At times it flares up, so we will have to manage it over the next few days and hopefully it will be OK for the weekend.”
Even with these fitness concerns in mind, Hughes intends to name as a strong a side as possible for the visit of Nigel Adkins’ Championship side.
“We have gone strong with our team selection in previous rounds and I see no reason to change that,” he continued. “The injuries will affect selection of the team, and there be senior players who have not had a great deal of action of late that we might introduce.
“But there will not be a raft of changes, because we want to progress in this competition and it is important that we do.”
One player possibly in contention is Roque Santa Cruz, who was could not be named for the Fulham game due to a bout of tonsillitis. The Paraguayan has recovered and may give the Manager another option for Wednesday night.
“Roque trained on Monday and felt a lot better. He’ll train again today and if he feels better again then hopefully he will be an option for us.”
