Lambert Still Waiting on Chambers and Collins as Lankester Faces Longer on Sidelines
Thursday, 7th Feb 2019 14:56

Town boss Paul Lambert says he’ll give central defensive pair Luke Chambers and James Collins until Saturday to prove their fitness for Sunday’s East Anglian derby against Norwich City at Carrow Road, while youngster Jack Lankester will be out for longer than first anticipated with his back injury having suffered a stress fracture.

Skipper Chambers and Collins missed Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday with foot and hamstring problems respectively.

“We’ll see where they are, we’ve still got another few days,” Lambert said. “We’ll just give the lads every bit of time we can to see if they’re going to be fit and I’ll make judgement on that probably on Saturday.

“We need to know by Saturday, that’ll probably be the cut-off point where we have to decide whether they’re going to make it or not.

“The lads [Matthew Pennington and Toto Nsiala] did well [in their absence], you couldn’t have asked any more from them. We’ll see how they are, we’ll see how James and Luke are.”

Regarding the rest of his squad, he added: “Everybody’s not too bad. Again, there’s still another few days but I’m too long in the game to know that anything can happen in the next few days.”

However, Emyr Huws won’t make the trip as he continues his recovery from his long-term knee injury having suffered a minor setback - fluid on his calf - last month.

“Emyr’s not ready,” Lambert added. “He’s doing OK, but he’s not quite ready for this.”

Lankester, who recently turned 19, will be out for a few more weeks with his back problem: “He’s got a little stress fracture in his back, so he’s going to be out for a little bit.

“But he’s growing and his body’s developing and he’ll be better for it. He’ll be ready to come back when he’s ready. A real big talented footballer.”

It’s obviously not what I want to be out with a back injury , but I’ll be doing my very best to be out there as soon as possible #itfc ðŸ’™ ðŸšœ

— Jack Lankester (@lankester_jack) February 8, 2019

One of the positives from the Owls match was Teddy Bishop’s performance, the midfielder having made a rare start.

“He did well Bish, really, really well.,” the Town manager added. “Again, a young player who was doing really well. As I say every week, the young kids here, we had five in the squad last week, which is great for the club.

“Bish hasn’t played many games and he had cramp in both calves. He’s trained all week, he’s fine, it’s just whether we start him or bring him on so he can make an impact.

‘We’ve just got to watch him, he hadn’t played for over 14 months or something like that, so it’s a dangerous time to keep playing and playing and playing him, all of a sudden you lose him again. But his performance last week, especially the first half, I thought he was very good.”

Photo: TWTD

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ArnieM added 15:04 - Feb 7 I'll put money on it that Collins is out for a few games , not just Sunday's.
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marco007 added 15:16 - Feb 7 Two crocked middle aged footballers fighting to be fit against high flying Naaarwich...........it's not looking good :( Give Wolfendon a chance as he is going to be vital for us in the future
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NewEraNewMe added 15:17 - Feb 7 ‘Captain Fantastic' will obviously be ready which tbh out of the two (him and Collins) I'd prefer Collins plain and simply due to him actually being able to boss a defence, the man is loud, huge and is calm on the ball, chambo likes to shout and scream but is rarely heard and when the ball does come to him, his first instinct is to lob it 40000000 Yards
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muccletonjoe added 15:31 - Feb 7 To beat Norwich we need to create chances. With Bish playing last week we created zilch really. Without him on Sunday.....
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osborne1nil added 15:55 - Feb 7

Not sure that PL wants to give too much away before Sundays game, why help the opposition? I wouldn't be surprised to see them both fit for Sunday.
Sadly with all players fit to play it is hard to imagine a Town win, let alone with various players out injured. Perhaps in the most unlikely situations for us to win, it could happen but sadly not very likely as we are struggling to even have shots on goal, let alone score.
Desperately need 3 points but can't see them coming from this one sadly. COYB

Keaneish added 15:57 - Feb 7 Any good news to report? Chambers and Collins will play. Lambert's playing it down.
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TonyHumesIpswich added 16:36 - Feb 7 Gamesmanship here, Collins, Chambers, Bishop will all start. Huws? Don't think so.
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carlo88 added 17:15 - Feb 7 If Rotherham win we're down and everyone knows it. Currently 16/1 on that will become 25/1 on probably. This set of players should not be so far adrift; they're poor but the majority of them were mid-table last season.
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