New defensive blow for Robins as Mawson has knee operation
BRISTOL City defender Alfie Mawson has undergone surgery for a knee injury - although the club have not put a timescale on his return.
The 26-year-old centre-back has been in good form but stretched to dispossess Djed Spence as Middlesbrough won 1-0 at Ashton Gate a week ago, leading the Fulham loanee to be carried off on a stretcher in the second half.
The Robins have been careful in their diagnosis and have not pinpointed a recovery timetable for the player, with fellow centre-back Nathan Baker out until Christmas, and four other players not expected to play tonight against Bournemouth in City’s next Championship fixture. Dean Holden explained further, adding that he has called up Ryley Towler and Opi Edwards to add numbers for the game on the south coast.
“Unfortunately Alfie’s gone under the knife this morning for an operation,” he said yesterday.
“Until we get the results of what they find exactly when they go in, we don’t quite know the timescale. We’re hoping that it’ll be sooner rather than later that we can get him back fit again for us. Fingers crossed that it was a successful procedure and we’ll move on.”
The scan results and what the surgeon says will hold the key, though he is obviously out for tonight’s game at the Vitality Stadium and against Norwich City on Saturday.
The news is not good elsewhere either, at the moment.
Steven Sessegnon has had a scan on a hamstring injury and is ruled out of tonight’s game too, and no further details have been released on Andi Weimann, who came off with a knee knock at the weekend. “We’ll see in the next couple of days on how we move forward with Andi,” said Holden.
Liam Walsh, Joe Williams are not expected back before the end of November.
“This is what the Championship’s about. I can’t wait for this one tomorrow,” said Holden of tonight’s opposition. “They’re a really strong team, we don’t quite know their starting line-up because they’ve mixed it around in recent games. It’s a real test for us, but that’s why we’re in this division to compete with the best.”