Bristol City and Watford will meet at Ashton Gate this evening in a huge match for both sides’ respective play-off hopes.
Robins manager, Gerhard Struber spoke to the press ahead of tonight’s game and opening by confirming that his side will be without defender Rob Atkinson after he suffered a ligament rupture in his ankle during the first-half of Tuesday night’s win over Blackburn Rovers, following a bad tackle from Yuki Ohashi.
“It’s bad news, he might not be available until the end of the season, around ten weeks. This is of course a really big hit for us and for the team, but we have to deal with that.” Atkinson has featured 25 times in the league for Struber so far this term, having not made an appearance for the West Country outfit in over two years prior to this due to other injuries.
The 49-year-old head coach hinted at a potential change of shape due to this injury, saying “we have played in a back four in some moments in a good direction, we of course play many times in a back three but it is very special, what is coming, nobody can predict us.”
The Austrian also confirmed that Joe Williams has suffered another hamstring injury and “will be out for the next few weeks, but we cannot say clearly a duration.” A big boost for City however is that Scottish right-back Ross McCrorie will be available again following a concussion.
Speaking on the upcoming three game week and how important it could be for his side’s play-off push, Struber said “we need to find the right consistency, the right load and the right triggers for the boys to bring the points home. The games are coming and you have to do it in the best direction, it’s not the time to moan…this means something for us, it’s a really good chance.”
Struber went on to speak about how deadline day signings Tomi Horvat and Noah Eile have fitted into his squad so far, stating that “When you have players with the right mentality and a good character it’s easy to integrate them, and of course we have a great team of characters and this makes everything for a player really really easy to jump in and come together. It’s a really good dynamic in the dressing room.”
These two sides have already met twice this season, a 1-1 draw in the league at Vicarage Road and then a massive 5-1 win at Ashton Gate for The Robins in the FA Cup 3rd Round, courtesy of an Emil Riis Jakobsen hat-trick. Both sides made changes that day, with Struber insisting that it will be a tougher task this time around. “We cannot compare this game with the FA Cup game that we had some weeks ago, they are a really good team and have a new coach which is a little bit different and more direct and powerful in transition. It will be a really interesting game to watch but at the same time a really tough game for us.”
