GOOD EVANS!
JONNY COULD RETURN AGAINST CHAMPIONS TOMORROW AS CITY’S DEFENSIVE INJURY CRISIS EASES
JONNY Evans and Jannik Vestergaard are in contention to make their returns from injury tomorrow after coming through a training match last week, writes Jordan Blackwell.
Evans has been on the sidelines with a foot problem since May, while Vestergaard overstretched his knee in his first full week at City.
But after playing in a behindclosed-doors game at Seagrave, they will now be assessed to see if they are available for tomorrow’s clash with Premier League champions Manchester City.
The good news does not end there, with Ryan Bertrand, below, right, declared available, the leftback a contender for his first Premier League start with City.
Ricardo Pereira has also returned to training after his hamstring tweak just 10 minutes into the club’s last outing, a win at Norwich a fortnight ago.
“We have most of our players back available now, although some are still short of fitness,” manager Brendan Rodgers told yesterday’s pre-match press conference.
“The likes of JJ (James Justin) and Wesley Fofana are the only two out at the moment.
“Ryan Bertrand will be back and available. Jonny Evans and Jannik Vestergaard, right, are progressing very well.
“We’ve had a good international break with players increasing their fitness levels. Hopefully all those players should be fit and available.
“(Ricardo) trained today. He was out on the pitches yesterday and came through a session today and looked very good.”
On Evans and Vestergaard, Rodgers added: “That’s what we have to assess in this final 24 hours (if they can play v Man City).
“We had a training game last week that both of them played in here at the training ground. They came through that.
“They’re not going to be 100 per cent. We only have three substitutes so there’s a strategy going into the game so we have to be as sure as we possibly can in terms of how long the players can last.
“We’ll see where we’re at before we finalise the team.
“Over the course of the next couple of weeks, they’ll be training more and hopefully involved more in the games, and they can build their fitness up.”
City will not have Belgian internationals Timothy Castagne and Youri Tielemans back in training until today, but Rodgers has said none of his players who represented their country have picked up knocks.