Key defender Axel Tuanzebe is set to miss Ipswich Town’s festive fixtures with a hamstring injury he picked up in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat Nottingham Forest.
Manager Kieran McKenna revealed the crushing news – which adds to the absence until the new year of striker George Hirst with the scan update of a knee injury revealed on Friday – ahead of Crystal Palace’s visit in their first midweek Premier League game of the campaign tomorrow night (7.30pm, Amazon Prime Video).
The former Manchester United man had established himself as a key figure in the Blues’ backline this season and only returned from a serious thumb injury three games ago.
Axel Tuanzebe, who has been playing in a caste to protect his right thumb, went off injured in the weekend’s defeat at Nottingham Forest Picture: Barry Goodwin
But the DR Congo-capped player was forced off with injury at the City Ground with 11 minutes to go, with homegrown full-back Harry Clarke, who now looks most likely to start against Palace, coming on.
McKenna also revealed some other players are undergoing fitness tests and assessments to see if they can make the match day squad, outside of fellow defenders Jacob Greaves and Ben Johnson, who along with midfielder Kalvin Phillips did not make the weekend’s teamsheet.
He said: “We've lost Axel – hamstring – long-term and we had a couple of other knocks and little issues in the game that were being assessed today.”
🤕 Kieran McKenna has confirmed Axel Tuanzebe suffered a 'significant' hamstring injury at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The defender is seeing a specialist to assess the full extent of the injury. pic.twitter.com/5gmlUmOt70
— IPSWICH TOWN (@IpswichTown) December 2, 2024
Pressed on the extent of that injury later in the pre-match Palace press conference, and the blow for a player who had just returned from a serious domestic (washing up) accident that requirement emergency thumb-saving surgery, he said: “Yeah, it is. I think, as you say, it makes it worse (for him).
“He's done really well in terms of availability, to be honest, over the 18 months that he's been here now or maybe a little bit less than 18 months, but over the time period.
“But yes, when you have a freak injury like what he had that made him miss quite a few games for us in quite a long period and then you get a muscular injury like this, which can happen, of course it compounds it and it means that a very important player for us is going to miss a large chunk of the season. So, yes, it's disappointing for him and disappointing for us as well.”
Pressed on the significance of the injury and the timeline of recovery, McKenna confirmed it was a tear and said: “Yes, we know the significance of the injury.
Nathan Broadhead got his first Premier League minutes of the season off the bench at Nottingham Forest on Saturday Picture: Barry Goodwin
“But until you see specialists, it's still too early to say. Hopefully it won't need surgery, but he will see a specialist for an opinion over the next 24 hours, I think. But it's a significant hamstring injury, so it's not one that's going to be a couple of weeks.”
The former Manchester United assistant manager was also asked about giving some more detail on what has been holding back Phillips and Johnson, having not been in the last two squads with unspecified issues.
“Kalvin had an ankle roll that he picked up shortly after the Leicester game,” McKenna confirmed.
“He's trained with the group today and he's feeling better, so, again, we have to make a decision in regards to tomorrow night.
“I think, definitely, touchwood, he should be in a great position come Sunday's game (at home to Bournemouth, 2pm).
“And Ben, pretty similar. Ben has a small muscular injury.
“He's missed some training with over the last week or so.
“He's trained a bit with a group today as well.
“So, again, we'll have to make a decision for tomorrow night. But hopefully, by the end of the week, both will be in a good place.”
One positive that was flagged up was McKenna giving versatile forward Nathan Broadhead his first Premier League minutes of the campaign at Forest, with the Welsh international replacing Omari Hutchinson, also in the 79th minute.
Asked how important role he could play in Town’s season, having been the club’s joint top scorer en-route to automatic promotion from the Championship with 13 goals, he said: “Hopefully he will be. He's a talented player and he can score and create goals.
“You certainly can't have too much of that in the squad in our position.
“Of course, like all the other players, he has to show that he can step up and do that in the Premier League. He's training hard to get the opportunities to do that.
“It's nice for him to get some minutes on the pitch on Saturday and hopefully now he can stay injury-free for a good period of time and especially through this winter game period.
“I'm sure if he does, then there'll be moments where he gets a chance to step up and we believe that he's got the quality to deliver for us in moments and hopefully he can show that.”
Ipswich lie second from bottom in the table but level on points with the two sides above them, with 17th-place Palace only above them in the last safe spot courtesy of a +4 better goal difference. It makes tomorrow’s game look a significant one as the Blues look to record their first home win at Portman Road at the seventh attempt.