Bristol City open the New Year with an away trip to the Midlands to face Coventry City. The Robins ended 2022 with a goalless draw at Millwall, and will now hope to begin 2023 with a victory.
It was an improved performance from City, who were unlucky not to win after chances for both Andi Weimann and Antoine Semenyo. More than 1,000 supporters made the trip to South London, and will have been happy with the response to their Boxing Day defeat to West Brom.
Coventry, in their last match were held by City’s Severnside rivals Cardiff City in a goalless draw. The Sky Blues are 14th in the current standings, five places higher than City. They’ve only won once in their last five matches, beating West Brom, whilst City have had the same fate, picking up five points from a possible 15.
This afternoon’s match at the Coventry Building Society Arena will be the third meeting between the two at a third venue. In August, City comfortably won in the Carabao Cup, winning at Burton’s Pirrelli Stadium after issues with Coventry’s pitch. A goalless draw then took place in October. Kasey Palmer, sold by City in the summer, could face his former club, having been frozen out of the picture by Nigel Pearson.
Palmer is one of several players City will want to keep an eye on, but both teams are still dealing with injuries from last year, with several players out. Here is the latest on the injury front for both Bristol City and Coventry City.
Bristol City injury news
There’s no change on the injury front for City, who are without injured trio Tomas Kalas, Ayman Benarous, and Kane Wilson. All have long-term injuries or have suffered setbacks when closing in on a return.
Tomas Kalas’ has had a calf problem emerge from a groin issue that kept him sidelined for seven months. Kalas had been due to return around Christmas time, but City are being cautious to avoid him getting injured again.
Ayman Benarous’ campaign is over after suffering an issue in his recovery from his interior cruciate ligament injury. Benarous had been making progress and was training on the ball again, but unfortunately suffered a recurrence of the injury.
Time has ticked down for Wilson, who should return either toward the end of this month or the start of February. Wilson jarred his knee against QPR back in October, which forced him to undergo surgery.
There is one doubt for City and that is Semenyo, who started his first game for a while, cramped up towards the end of the match against Millwall. He was kept on, to try and overcome it, with only a slight worry from the boss.
