Joe Williams has declared he wants to finish Bristol City’s season “as strong as possible” in a short message on social media showing his desire to get back to first-team action with the Robins for the final seven games of the campaign.
Williams missed City’s final game before the international break, the 2-2 draw against West Brom, after sustaining another hamstring injury - his third this season, and fourth injury overall - in the preceding match at Barnsley, having been brought on as a substitute for 16 minutes.
There had been initial doubt over Williams’ involvement for the remainder of the campaign, as the Everton academy graduate has appeared in 18 of a possible 39 Championship games for the Robins due to a succession of hamstring problems.
But speaking last week, Nigel Pearson had stated that the prognosis for this latest injury was positive and the 25-year-old would be out for "two to three weeks". That would likely place him on course to be involved against Peterborough United on April 9.
The midfielder’s post on Instagram on Sunday night seems to hint he could even be in contention to face Bournemouth when the Championship resumes on April 2.
“Is the break over yet looking forward to the last seven games and finishing the season as strong as possible, see you all back at Ashton Gate soon,” Williams wrote.
Pearson and assistant Curtis Fleming have regularly joked about Williams’ enthusiasm in wanting to get back from injury and it sometimes being counter-productive to his recovery.
In the five times Williams has returned from injury, under Pearson and Dean Holden before him, he has lasted 2-4 matches before being struck down with the same or a fresh problem and his 11-game run since returning to the team in late January had been by far his longest stint in the squad.
Pearson has also admitted that when the midfielder does return this season, he won’t be able to play Saturday and then midweek matches, although that’s only relevant to Stoke and Sheffield United over Easter weekend.
That was in direct reference to the injury suffered at Barnsley as, having played 90 minutes at Blackburn four days earlier, Williams was moved to the bench at Oakwell with Pearson declaring that he needed to be protected over concerns if his hamstrings could cope with two games inside a week.
That theory was cruelly proven in Yorkshire and the expectation is that even if Williams was to be declared fit for the Bournemouth match next Saturday, Pearson and his staff will once again be cautious over when to introduce him back into the first XI.
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