Liam Gibbs Onel Hernandez and Anis Slimane fitness updates.
Norwich City have suffered a double injury blow with both Liam Gibbs and Onel Hernandez set to be sidelined until December.
Johannes Hoff Thorup delivered bleak updates on the pair ahead of the Canaries’ trip to Derby County tomorrow lunchtime.
Gibbs was left out of last weekend’s squad with a hamstring injury sustained in training prior to their victory over Watford. Follow up scans earlier this week revealed City’s worst fears have been realised.
“Not really positive. I think we are talking about a return to play in 10 weeks’ time. It was, unfortunately, what we hoped it wouldn’t be,” City’s boss said on the 21-year-old.
“It’s very unfortunate for him and for us. Even though he hasn’t been a regular starter, it was the plan [for him to challenge]. He is a good player and has the capability physically to cover a lot of ground. That is how it is and we have to support him in the best way that we can.”
Thorup delivered a similarly grim fitness bulletin on Hernandez, who was substituted just seven minutes into a cameo from the bench in last week’s win with a hamstring complaint.
“It is the same,” Thorup said. “We are talking about 10 weeks’ time or something like that. It didn’t seem that serious in the game, and we thought we’d go with low risk after seven minutes on the pitch.
“We could see he was running without full power and went with what we thought was low risk, but now it seems it was very important that we took that decision because it’s a longer one for him.”
Both Hernandez and Gibbs endured major injuries at the back end of last season and their absence will create a void in the squad with City’s head coach hungry for increased competition around Championship fixtures.
Thorup was able to reflect on one positive with on-loan Sheffield United midfielder Anis Ben Slimane returning from injury and available to play from the start against Derby if required.
“He is back in the team. He’s been on the pitch the whole week,” Thorup said on the Tunisian.
“We thought we were still a little bit short on numbers in midfield, with options in the game [to change], but also for competition every week, which is important for the guys to stay sharp. But that is how it is. We will manage.”
