McKenna: Davis Should Be OK For Huddersfield, Walton and Tuanzebe Available From Next Week
Thursday, 28th Sep 2023 14:45
Town boss Kieran McKenna expects left-back Leif Davis to be OK to face Huddersfield at the John Smiths Stadium on Saturday, while keeper Christian Walton and new central defender Axel Tuanzebe are a week away from being considered for matches.
Davis aggravated the ankle injury he suffered at Sheffield Wednesday during last weekend’s 4-3 victory over Blackburn and wasn’t in the 20-man squad for the 3-2 Carabao Cup victory over Wolves in midweek, but McKenna says the former Leeds man ought to be fine for the trip to West Yorkshire.
“He should be OK,” he said. “He was touch and go for Tuesday night but he seems much better over the last 48 hours, so we’re hopeful that he might be involved on Saturday.”
Tuanzebe joined the Blues earlier this month having left Manchester United at the end of last season and has been taking part in his own pre-season as he looks to get up to speed following a back injury.
“Not too far, this is probably the last week really before we start to consider him for match action,” McKenna said of the 25-year-old.
“He’s been training well, he had a check-up with the specialist on Tuesday, which he had a good report from, so he’s training well and contributing to the group.
“I think from next week, we’ll consider him to be available for matches. Of course, at the moment, the other centre-halves are up and running and having good seasons, so he’s got some time now to really build up his match-type exposure.
“We’ll hopefully have a friendly in the international break, which will realistically be a really good chance to get some good minutes into him and try and have him available predominantly after the international break to come and help us when we think the time is right.”
Regarding Walton, who suffered a plantar fascia tear in pre-season, McKenna added: “We think, unless there are any changes, he’ll be available to be in the squad next week. He’s trained with the group this week.
“The medical team and Rene want him to complete one or two more really intense sessions and if he comes through them well, hopefully he’ll be available for the games next week.”
Walton’s availability will be a big boost for the Blues but equally will give McKenna a dilemma with Vaclav Hladky having impressed in the former Brighton man’a absence.
“It’s better to have those decisions to make,” McKenna said. “If we didn’t have a goalkeeper performing well at the moment, we’d probably be on fewer points than we’re on at the moment and the situation and the performances wouldn’t have been as good.
“It’s great to be in a position where Christian’s been a very good performer for us and Vaz has come into the team and is performing very well, and to have the two of them fit and available will be a boost for the strength of our squad for the many, many games that we’ve got coming up this season.”
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