Nigel Pearson has confirmed that defender Tomas Kalas isn’t ready to return for Bristol City this weekend with the Czech Republic international having missed the Robins’ last four Championship matches.
Kalas wasn’t involved over the international break following a groin injury and concerns over burnout due to the volume of football he’s played for club and country over the last 18 months.
The 28-year-old won’t be available for Saturday’s visit of Peterborough United, with the club also revealing that the game comes too soon for returning trio Callum O’Dowda, Andy King and George Tanner.
King (hamstring surgery) and O’Dowda (knee) have both resumed training this week after long lay-offs, while Tanner played 45 minutes for the Under-23s on Tuesday in his first outing since late December. City state that Tanner's absence is due to the 22-year-old, "needing to work on his fitness conditioning".
“Tomas won't be fit for this weekend,” manager Nigel Pearson told bcfc.co.uk . “He's not in a position where he's able to be in the squad, it's as simple as that. We'll have to see how it goes in the next few weeks.”
City’s squad will, however, contain striker Antoine Semenyo and Joe Williams following their respective recoveries from knee and hamstring issues.
Semenyo jarred his knee during the 2-2 draw with West Brom prior to the international break while Williams suffered a third hamstring injury of the season during the 2-0 loss at Barnsley but both have trained this week and are in contention.
"They are both training this morning and they will be in the squad for this weekend," Pearson added .
City take on bottom side Peterborough at Ashton Gate with just one win from their last seven matches. The Posh are 10 points from safety with six games remaining.
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