Andi Weimann has trained all week for Bristol City and looks set to come back into contention for Saturday’s Championship trip to Preston North End.
Weimann has missed the last four games in league and cup with a hamstring injury and Pearson recently earmarked this weekend as a potential return date for the Austrian international, who has four goals and four assists this season.
The City manager has confirmed that the 31-year-old has been active at the High Performance Centre and although not fully rubber-stamping his return, given Weimann’s importance to the team at the very least he’ll be on the bench at Deepdale.
“Andi’s been back training all week,” Pearson told Robins TV, before adding more generally of the injury list. “We are making progress but, of course, you’ve always got to work hard to minimalise the risk of picking up more injuries and we work very hard at that. The staff are very diligent in trying to make sure it’s a smaller risk.”
The need to reintroduce Weimann into the starting XI is reduced by the emergence of Sam Bell, with the academy striker scoring two goals against West Brom in the FA Cup last weekend, while Mark Sykes also has three goals and an assist since he was stationed on the right-hand side of an attacking three due to the Austrian’s injury.
Weimann's 25 appearances this season have either been as No10 or right-wing back and, in his absence, the Robins have switched to a 4-3-3 which has proved successful in maximising their quality at both ends of the field.
The Robins also added Anis Mehmeti and Harry Cornick on deadline day to further boost their attacking options with both players having trained with their new teammates this week.
“They’ll all be involved,” Pearson said, of his new signings. “And that’s what we wanted, we wanted players to come in and be ready to put pressure on players who are already here.
"That’s the ethos of having a squad mentality. It’s good when they get on as colleagues but they need to stretch and test each other. And that’s what we want, it’s great to have options.”
One striker who will be missing from the encounter in the north west is Tommy Conway who remains out, at least until next month, with a hamstring issue and his manager admits the club are cautious not to rush his return.
Wing-back Kane Wilson could come back into senior contention soon after recovering from a knee injury. Pearson has confirmed that the summer signing from Forest Green Rovers, who’s been out since October 1, could take part in the Under-21s' Premier League Cup tie against Everton on Sunday to help ease him back into a matchday environment.
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