Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard hopes defender Bobby Thomas and attacker Brandon Thomas-Asante will be available for Saturday’s Championship clash with Sheffield Wednesday at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
The duo were absent for the Sky Blues’ 0-0 draw with Hull City at the MKM Stadium on Monday evening as they moved to within four points of officially securing promotion to the Premier League.
After Millwall had been beaten 2-1 by Norwich City at lunchtime and Middlesbrough dropped points against Swansea City at teatime, drawing 2-2 at the Swansea.com Stadium, Lampard’s side knew they had the chance to take another giant stride towards securing their place back in the top flight.
Despite moving one step nearer by earning a point against the Tigers, they were forced to work hard for their share of the spoils, coming up against a Hull side that remains determined to secure a play-off spot.
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With Saturday’s visit of the Owls shaping up to be a potentially pivotal day for the Sky Blues, Lampard is hopeful Thomas and Thomas-Asante will be back in the mix against Henrik Pedersen’s side.
“Bobby had a bit of a knock on his shin and overall fatigue so he was struggling to recover in the turnaround,” said Lampard, as quoted by CoventryLive. “But he will be OK – there’s no issue.
“Brandon has a small hamstring and with a player like him you’ve got to be really careful. We’ll do some testing through the week in terms of pushing him to the max and then if he comes through that he’ll be involved on Saturday.”
Although Coventry would not rubber stamp promotion with a victory over the Owls amid the fact it is a 12.30pm kick-off, they could officially seal their place in the Premier League later in the day depending on results elsewhere.
Regardless of what happens elsewhere between now and the end of the campaign, Coventry know four points from their final five games will get them over the line. However, a win over Wednesday would see them promoted on Saturday if both Middlesbrough and Millwall, who are currently third and fourth respectively on 72 points, drop points this weekend.
Millwall face West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Friday night and Middlesbrough host Portsmouth at the Riverside at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, meaning the Sky Blues, provided they beat the Owls, could find themselves celebrating promotion come 5pm on Saturday evening.
The Owls will travel to the Coventry Building Society Arena looking to avoid going a 37th consecutive game in all competitions without a victory after equalling Derby County’s record of 36 games without a win after drawing 1-1 with Leicester City on Monday.
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