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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Nigel Pearson provides Matty James fitness update ahead of Bristol City's trip to Luton Town

Nigel Pearson will need to make another late call on Matty James' availability for the trip to Luton but hopes he'll at least make the matchday squad tomorrow.

The midfielder missed the win over Blackpool with an ankle injury sustained in the draw against Huddersfield last week. The 31-year-old returned to training on Tuesday but they now face a waiting game to see whether there has been any reaction before considering his selection.

Pearson will also hold discussions with James to determine his comfort levels before making his team selection but he'll be obviously hoping to have the stalwart available against the Hatters given the difficulty of opposition and the current injury crisis. City will head to the fourth-place play-off hopefuls without at least six senior players in Ayman Benarous, Rob Atkinson, Kal Naismith, Tomas Kalas, Joe Williams and Tommy Conway.

Pearson said ahead of tomorrow's trip: "He's trained with us this morning so we'll see if there's any reaction but of course, he's not done a lot since last week so hopefully he'll be in the squad tomorrow.

"We'll make a decision as to whether he's involved tomorrow. I don't pick players without talking to them if they've picked up an injury.

"It's important that we go into this game with confidence that whoever starts is feeling okay and feeling confident themselves. I don't want to go into a game having doubts themselves their durability or ability to be competitive during the game."

Andy King has been integral to City's midfield in the last two matches, with the Robins keeping clean sheets in the process, having played 170 minutes in five days. If James is unavailable, the 34-year-old may start his third consecutive game for the first time this year and Pearson claimed his fitness may play a part in his thinking when he selects his side.

"There's an element of that," Pearson added when asked about whether he needs to acknowledge King's game time. "But as long as we have some sort of balance on the bench, I'm relatively happy just to make sure we get the best combination on the day.

"It's always a big ask for senior players to play game after game but I think Kingy has proved over the last couple of games in particular that his game knowledge is of great value. He's a lot fitter this year in comparison to last year as well so we'll see how we are tomorrow."

City have two more matches before the two-week international break that commences on March 20 following the away trip to Swansea. Pearson is confident both Naismith and Conway, who have both been absent with calf and hamstring injuries, will be back in action to face Reading following the break.

Pearson added: "I'm not really looking further than the next two games at the minute but it comes (the international break) at a decent time for us because hopefully, the likes of Tommy Conway and Kal Naismith will be available on our return so the World Cup break helped us in our record but hopefully it gives us that opportunity to get players back."

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