Back on the grass – Coventry City injury ‘hope’ ahead of Watford.
Coventry City injury news from CoventryLive as we take a look at the current state of play of injuries in the Sky Blues camp as the squad regroups after the international break..
Coventry City reported back to Ryton this week to prepare to resume their Championship season, with all eyes on gearing up for Saturday’s trip to Watford.
Sky Blues manager Mark Robins will be checking on three of his senior players who have been receiving treatment over the international break in the hope of getting nearer to a return to action. Two – midfielder Ben Sheaf and winger Tatsuhiro Sakamoto – are key figures and regular starters when fit, while the third, summer signing Raphael, is a bit of an unknown quantity, having only featured in one behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly so far.
Sheaf, in particular, has been a significant miss with many believing the team’s stuttering start to the new campaign is due to City having struggled to take control in central midfield. Here’s what we know so far about the injured players and when they’re hoped to return.
The newly appointed Sky Blues skipper suffered an ankle ligament injury at Stevenage in pre-season, resulting in five weeks out. He recovered to play the last 20 minutes of the Carabao Cup tie win over Oxford United, paving the way for a league return against Norwich City. However, he limped off in pain during training at the CBS Arena on the Thursday before City’s last match after aggravating the original injury.
Mark Robins explained to CoventryLive after the Norwich loss on Saturday, August 31: “…it was a massive blow on Thursday when we lose him for however long we are going to lose him for.”
Asked what he’d done, he revealed: “It’s an aggravation of the same injury. We trained at the stadium on Thursday and he caught the ball on the end of his toe when a cross came in and he was taking a touch to shoot but he actually didn’t take the touch, tried to shoot, one touch. It would have been better if he’d have taken a touch because he wouldn’t have got injured, but the ball came across at some force and then he went through it and it just opened the injury up again, so it’s given him a little bit of pain.
“So whilst it’s not the same injury as before, it’s an aggravation. The break has come at a good time, I guess.”
