There was little festive cheer that head coach Dean Smith was able to deliver as he provided disappointing injury updates ahead of the Boxing Day clash with Arsenal.
Mathias Normann has had to have surgery on his pelvic problem and will now be assessed, and Milot Rashica will return from his groin issue at Leicester on New Year’s Day at the earliest.
Grant Hanley and Andrew Omobamidele are unlikely to be involved during the festive fixtures and fellow centre-back Ozan Kabak may not be able to manage two games in three days.
Amid the battle with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, Smith is far from happy about Tuesday’s trip to Crystal Palace going ahead just two days after the Arsenal game, with continuing uncertainty about his players on a day-to-day basis.
- Scroll down for the full injury bulletin
“We’ve had some fresh (Covid) cases but we’ve got some others coming back from previous cases as well, so pretty similar to a lot of other clubs at the moment,” Smith began at his Christmas Eve press conference.
“We have to have a PCR test within 48 hours of a game and that’s our last point to find out who is going to be missing and who’s going to be available.
“So we’ll train today and tomorrow morning and see what we’ve got.”
Clubs held talks with the Premier Lague on Monday and have been encouraged to do all that is possible to keep games on, as long as 13 senior outfield players are available plus a goalkeeper.
Leeds’ trip to Liverpool and Watford’s game at Wolves are the first two Boxing Day games to be postponed and City’s boss has major concerns.
“I think nobody really left satisfied or happy, certainly with the festive schedule that’s coming on, there’s two games that have already been lost due to the current situation,” he said of Monday’s meeting.
“We all know that there is a tradition with the festive scheduling, it’s difficult normally but it’s nigh on impossible at the moment to ask players to play twice in 48 hours.
“At the moment, I don’t know how we’re going to do it. We’ve got a lot of players coming back, some from Covid cases, some from injuries. We’re having to push injuries forward and people are breaking down in rehab because of that.
“It’s asking massive things of everybody’s squads at the moment. It’s lunacy that we’re having to play two games in 48 hours and there’s got to be a question about the integrity of the competition when teams are playing weakened teams against other teams and it’s affecting league positions.”
The Canaries had last weekend’s trip to West Ham postponed after an abject performance in a 2-0 home defeat to Aston Vila, which Smith has taken responsibility for and said it should not have gone ahead.
“We had it the other day against Aston Villa and I blame myself really, for not pushing to get the game called off, because we shouldn’t have played,” he added.
“I suppose because we were so buoyant after the performance against Manchester United a few days earlier but then I had four players pull out on the day of the game and three players on the bench who I couldn’t put on.
“I ended up making the substitution of a guy (Sam Byram) who hadn’t played for 22 months, after 43 minutes. He wasn’t due to be making a first-team start until the FA Cup game on January 9, but that’s where we were.
“I was bordering on negligent from myself and if he had have got injured, I would have felt very, very guilty. Thankfully Sam got through the game but I think we are in a dangerous position now where we’re risking the health and welfare of the players.”
With Christoph Zimmermann already known to be targeting a January return from his ankle surgery, here were the updates Smith was able to provide on his squad, as he awaited the latest Covid-19 test results.
Mathias Normann
“Unfortunately, Mathias was hoping to get back, but he’s had a setback and has had surgery now to release the abductors and help his pelvic injury, so he’s going to be out for the foreseeable future.”
Milot Rashica
“Milot, these games will come too soon for him, but we’re hopeful that he’ll be back for the Leicester game.”
Ozan Kabak
“He’s available for selection. He was one of those players who shouldn’t have been playing against Aston Villa.
“He had suffered from glandular fever, had come back from that, was playing his first full game against Manchester United for a while and then was back out there against Villa and broke down before half-time.
“He’s back to fitness but to ask him to play two games in three days is going to be too much.”
Grant Hanley
“I think he went to see the specialist yesterday, he doesn’t need any surgery, which is really good.
“But certainly for the next couple of weeks he won’t be available.”
Andrew Omobamidele
“Andrew, unfortunately, will probably be out for another 10 games with the back stress injury.”
Josh Sargent and Christos Tzolis
“We’ve got some players who had illness who are back on the training ground, Billy Gilmour being one of them as well, who was the player who was playing with the high temperature against Vila.
“There’s a lot of players who have had illness and symptoms but have actually tested negative (for Covid-19).
“So there’s been a bit of a softly, softly approach during training, just to make sure we get them back to their full recovery and are ready for the game on Sunday.”
Pierre Lees-Melou and Lukas Rupp
“Lees-Melou is back training now after illness. Ruppy’s had illness but also an injury, so we’ll be having a look at him today to see how he comes through.”
NCFC PRESSER LIVE: Normann and Rashica to miss City clash with Arsenal
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