Blues boss Paul Lambert hopes youngster Idris El Mizouni will be fit enough to return to the squad at Peterborough tomorrow but thas one or two worries about other players ahead of the visit to London Road, while he says the likes of Gwion Edwards, Emyr Huws and Alan Judge will have benefited from playing in the Carabao Cup tie at Luton on Tuesday.

“I’ll see how he is this morning, he’d have played against Luton but for his ankle,” Lambert said when asked about Tunisian international El Mizouni.

“I’ll see how he is this morning. He’s a big talent, a huge talent and he’s been doing really well, so I’ll see how he is.

“We’ve one or two other things at the minute, but we’ll assess them this morning and we’ll decide later on today who plays.”

Asked about the number of injuries the Blues have suffered, not just this season but for the last few, and whether anything needs to be looked into on that front, Lambert said: “It’s football, you need a lot of luck in football, you can never say in a game what’s going to happen, whether it’s contact or a strained muscle, anything can happen.

“The frustrating thing is that lads were injured last season and it’s taken them longer to come back from it. They’re getting there, slowly but surely, but that’s just part and parcel of the game, I guess.”

Among those on the way back from injuries picked up last season are Edwards, who played an hour at Kenilworth Road, and Jon Nolan, who was on the bench and may be involved for the U23s at Hull City this evening.

“Gwion is slightly ahead of what Nolan is,” Lambert added. “Nolan hasn’t played any games whatsoever and it was Gwion’s first 60 minutes the other night.

“It’s good to have them back, but they’re still a little bit off it regarding game time, but the good thing is they’re training with us now.”

Lambert says central defender Toto Nsiala is still a few weeks off a return from his hamstring injury, despite being back running.

With Luke Garbutt out for a month with the knee injury he suffered against Sunderland the Blues manager will have to find someone to come in on the left of midfield but says it’s probably too soon for Edwards to play a second game in five days at Peterborough.

“Maybe it’s a big ask,” he reflected. “Again, Idris being back, if he comes through everything OK, then it gives us another option there, but we’ll see how Gwion is.”

He added: “[Alan] Judge is the same. He’s not played that many games either and as I said before his game time is way down.

“It was Emyr’s first game in 21 or 22 months, Andre [Dozzell]’s just back — so Andre is probably the fittest out of everybody really, again I’ll look at it.”

Dozzell is potentially another option for a wide role having played on the right on a couple of occasions last season: “He has, it’s probably not his favourite position, but sometimes you’ve got to sacrifice yourself for the team, so we’ll see what happens.”

However, Judge is perhaps a more likely option, even if, like Dozzell, the Irishman would probably be best used in the centre and he is short of match fitness following his broken wrist.

“He’s not played many games, his game time is way down,” Lambert continued. “We’ve got Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, so the squad will rotate between those three games because it’s a big big ask going every single week.”

Lambert says Emyr Huws came through is first senior start since December 2018 at Luton, the Welshman having played 66 minutes against the Hatters.

“He’s fine,” he said. “It was his first game in 21 or 22 months, which is a huge hurdle for him to get over and I think that’s great for him.

“I’ve said before he’s a talented footballer, but you’ve got to nurture him in, and it’s incredible the length of time he’s been out, but I’m happy with him, really really happy with how he’s training and how he’s progressing and not really missing training days now."

Lambert says he and his staff will have to prevent the former Cardiff man from trying to do too much too soon after such a lengthy spell out.

“Yeah, absolutely we do, for his own good,” he said. “The last thing you want is him breaking down with that knee again and you’re back to square one.

“What the lad has done has been really good, and I’m really happy with him and how he’s getting back to the fitness levels. He’s a good footballer, but you have to protect him from himself.”

Lambert says with matches coming thick and fast, the players coming back from injury will get chances to get minutes under their belts.

“There’s game after game after game, so you’re going to catch the minutes somewhere along the line,” he continued.

“And as I said before, we’re going to need everybody, and sometimes you have to sacrifice the ‘me’ for the ‘we’, that’s the way to view it because there are so many games that we have to win.

“At the minute there’s a really good feeling with the team, fans and the club, so we go and try to win the game.”

Lambert played down the chances of Armando Dobra, a goalscoring debutant at Luton, being handed a league debut against Posh.

“Listen, you’re asking a kid at 18-years-old to go back-to-back games, and that’s a big ask,” he said. “Even though he did great and I’m pretty sure he was happy with his own performance and his goal, but that’s a big ask.”

Meanwhile, Lambert says young strikers Ben Folami, who is back in training after his achilles injury, and Ben Morris, who is continuing work with physios after his ACL, are making good progress.

“Those lads are doing really well, they’re doing really well,” he said. “They had horrendous injuries those two, but they’re nowhere near ready for the first team or anything like that. They have to get their careers going again in the young team, but they’re doing really well.”

Photo: Werner Scholz

TractorRoyNo1 added 12:46 - Aug 16 Remind me how old was Burley and Beattie when they played everyweek in the top league?
3

BlueNomad added 12:59 - Aug 16 Beattie was a man when he was born. Burley was an exceptional talent in an exceptional team.
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BloomBlue added 13:07 - Aug 16 And many football experts claimed Beattie's injuries later in his career were caused by playing too much football at a young age.
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ArnieM added 13:07 - Aug 16 ..... and then there was John Wark.... Mick Mills both played for 1st Team in their teens I believe.
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Orraman added 13:22 - Aug 16 18 year old Ryan Sessegnon played virtually every game for Fulham in their promotion season. Some youngsters can cope, some can't. I think PL makes these statements to keep their feet on the ground and make them work for their place
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bluemike1969 added 13:27 - Aug 16 My main concern will be if Luke Chambers is in the starting line up!
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midastouch added 14:18 - Aug 16 El Mizouni better than Wayne Rooney! :-)
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