The injury gods giveth and they taketh away. Just as Nigel Pearson was preparing to welcome back Matty James and Tommy Conway into his squad, and possibly starting XI, with Kal Naismith also not far away, Alex Scott injures his knee on international duty.
The Bristol City manager said he was unable to provide a full timeframe on just how long the midfielder will be out for but he’ll definitely miss today’s clash against Reading, while Pearson must also make do without another consistent starter in Mark Sykes.
That robs him of the players who rank second and fifth in the City squad for Championship minutes played, and joint first and second for starts, meaning the 2pm teamsheet for the visit of the Royals will have a slightly unfamiliar feel about it.
City go into these final eight games of the season equidistant between the top six and bottom three and this is one of a number of fixtures that represents an opportunity to trend towards the former rather than the latter.
Reading are winless in five, losing four of those games, have the threat of a six-point deduction hanging over them for historic breaches of financial fair play and Paul Ince is in the midst of a late season injury crisis.
Pearson’s options may not be quite as strong or vast as he would like them but, in comparison, the Robins are in a position of strength as we head into the final phase of the Championship campaign. Here’s how we think City will line up at Ashton Gate…
Goalkeeper and defence
Max O’Leary may well be in slight John Travolta in Pulp Fiction meme mode as he surveys his competition in the goalkeeper department with the 26-year-old the only senior player in that position now on the books, following Nikita Haikin’s departure over the international break.
O’Leary’s place hasn’t been under threat but it shows how quickly life can change as less than 12 months ago he appeared to be third-choice behind Dan Bentley and the incoming Stefan Bajic, and on his way out of Ashton Gate.
Now established as No1 and with a new three-year contract signed, O’Leary should see the season out between the posts. He’ll have a “new” No2 in Harvey Wiles-Richards but the quotation marks are used because the 20-year-old has been by O’Leary’s side on matchdays and training for a long time now and deserves his elevation into the deputy role.
In front of O’Leary the defence, as was the case before the break, selects itself with no Tomas Kalas or Kal Naismith yet and Rob Atkinson out for the season, so Zak Vyner will be partnered by Cam Pring with Jay Dasilva at left-back and George Tanner on the right.
Kane Wilson is the only logical competitor to break up this now established quartet but as Pearson admitted in midweek the 23-year-old doesn’t possess the requisite fitness levels to be in the starting conversation yet.
With no third-choice centre-back there could be a place on the bench for Duncan Idehen who was in the matchday 18 at Swansea along with Under-21 full-back Callum Wood.
Midfield
Process of elimination here leaves Pearson with just three specialist centre midfielders and one of them only made his full debut two weeks ago in South Wales. No Joe Williams, Naismith or Scott, so Matty James will almost definitely return to the team having been out since the start of March due to an ankle injury.
He remains one of Pearson’s most trusted and reliable lieutenants and, to be honest, we’re getting bored writing that City are nowhere near as organised or structurally sound in the middle of the park when he’s not playing (but it very much is the case so we'll keep saying it).
Another of the manager’s senior officers is Andy King who started the four matches prior to the international break and may well keep his place alongside his fellow former Leicester teammate especially, as we’ll explain in a bit, the players in front of that duo may all be on the adventurous side.
Omar Taylor-Clarke is the new face in the squad and certainly has the skillset and talent to be used in the Scott role as a more advanced midfielders, plus Pearson will feel a degree of confidence doing so with the King-James axis behind him.
There’s also the fact that the 19-year-old performed more than well enough against Swansea to keep his place in the team. The real determining factor could be his performances in training over the last week to 10 days which, unfortunately, we’re not privy to.
If he doesn’t feel fully comfortable in playing Taylor-Clarke, then the likelihood is that either Andi Weimann or Anis Mehmeti will be moved into a playmaking role from their wide forward positions. Or, which hasn’t been discussed, one of them plays at the tip of the diamond with two strikers ahead of them.
Attack
Which brings us to the end of the field where Pearson has plenty of options and it remains a puzzle to pick exactly the combination of forwards the manager will choose to go with.
Sykes’ suspension leaves a gap on the right flank and that appears a straight fight between Weimann - at least in a 4-3-3 - and Harry Cornick, who is yet to appear fully comfortable or at ease in this system.
Likewise, the left-sided berth will be between Anis Mehmeti and Sam Bell, which leaves the central positions between former strike partners Tommy Conway and Nahki Wells.
To address the latter debate, on output and performances this season, Conway would normally have a case for starting but having no played for almost three months, it makes sense to ease the 20-year-old back into action and unless he’s completely rid of his hamstring issue, he’ll make for a tantalising prospect off the bench.
In a 4-3-3, it would seem then that captain Weimann would join Wells and probably Mehmeti in the front three, but a diamond changes that attacking iteration slightly.
Mehmeti could play in front of Taylor-Clarke, King and James in a more central role with Bell and Wells through the middle or Weimann could even be tucked inside into a position that he’ll admit suits him more.
It’s a tricky one because while the options are plentiful nobody has been playing well enough to truly put their hand up and it’ll fall to how Pearson wants to play and which forward fit that game plan best.
That situation also lends itself to Conway making an immediate return, probably alongside Wells, as that has been by far City's most consistent combination this season, something the manager has stressed the importance of.
That said, this key quote from Pearson in midweek indicates that Conway may handled with care as he said: "It's really important when players make that transition from being out for quite a while that it's just not throwing them back in the deep end."
Wells has travelled, albeit playing only one game for Bermuda, while Weimann trained but didn’t play for Austria and Mehmeti made his international debut for Albania against Poland on Monday with the 22-year-old on the field for 20 minutes.
Their respective participation at international level gives Bell a good shot at starting with his partner most likely to be Wells, if Pearson opts for that diamond. If he doesn’t then Weimann and Mehmeti should occupy the wide positions.
Bristol City (4-1-2-1-2): Max O’Leary; George Tanner, Zak Vyner, Cam Pring, Jay Dasilva; Andy King; Omar Taylor-Clarke, Matty James; Anis Mehmeti; Andi Weimann, Nahki Wells
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