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McKenna: Not Impossible Omari Could Be Involved
Wednesday, 15th Jan 2025 15:13

Town boss Kieran McKenna says it’s not impossible that Omari Hutchinson could be involved in the home games against Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City on Thursday and Sunday, the forward having suffered a groin injury in training shortly after the 2-0 victory over Chelsea.

Hutchinson, 21, missed the 2-2 draw at Fulham and Sunday’s 3-0 FA Cup victory over Bristol Rovers.

Asked whether the England U21 international has a chance of being in the squad against the Seagulls, McKenna said: “Not impossible, we have to make a judgement, he did some work on the grass today, so we’re really hopeful that we’ll see him at stages this week.

“But what that looks like and how many minutes across the games, we’ll have to assess and try and make the right judgement.”

McKenna has no new fitness issues from the game against the Pirates: “Nothing’s changed from Sunday, so it just leaves us with the injuries that we've had that we're still working on.”

That means the Blues are still without Conor Chaplin (knee) and Sammie Szmodics (ankle), who are expected to be out for a few more weeks, but better news was the return of George Hirst from the bench against Rovers following his knee problem.

“He’s been very unlucky, I have to say, and we’ve been unlucky to lose him,” McKenna said. “I think his impact off the bench in the games that he was available for was really good.

“I think the Brighton away game was a prime example. I think without him, where we were in the game when he came on, I’m not sure we go on to get the point.

“He had a really big part in swinging the momentum in that game away from home against Brighton, and he did that on a few occasions.

“He’s a valuable member of the squad, he knows his role, he knows what we want from him, he knows his qualities really, really well now, he’s matured well and having him as an option in the squad will only be a positive for us.”

While the Blues are short of fit players in attack, Ben Godfrey’s signing - and Axel Tuanzebe being close to a return following his hamstring injury - means McKenna has decisions to make at the back.

“I don’t consider them dilemmas, just good options,” he continued. “We’re short in the forward areas at the moment in terms of numbers, shorter than where we would want to be, so that’s a challenge, especially for us and how we like to use our substitutes.

“I think we’ve got a much cleaner bill of health defensively, Axel’s not too far away as well, so hopefully we’ll come through the week well, he comes back and then we’ll have good strong options in those positions. That’s where we want to be across every position for the remaining games.”


Photo: Matchday Images



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Mariner1974 added 15:38 - Jan 15
Yes! Look forward to having Axel back as well....Mean defence! Then we can stop Liverpool like Forest did when we're up at Anfield! Hirst is such a welcome plus, to give Delap rest and offer something different & fingers crossed for some Omari contribution over the coming games as well. Looking forward to tomorrow night!
4

dirtydingusmagee added 15:52 - Jan 15
Brighton no pushovers but its a winnable game , give 100% and no costly mistakes Coyb
2

Saxonblue74 added 16:11 - Jan 15
Brighton on a poor run, and we have our tails up. A winnable game to show the poor Budgies how to do it!
0

Fat_Boy_Tim added 16:18 - Jan 15
So thinking out loud our attacking options for tomorrow are:

Possible starts-

Clark
Broadhead
Delap
Johnson
Taylor
Burns

Possible from bench

Omari
Hirst

So the starting striker will be Delap, I assume Clark on the left and Burns on the right and in the 10 Broadhead? Maybe Broadhead left and Taylor in the 10?

I would guess..

Delap
Clark - Broadhead - Burns

And the end of the game

Hirst
??? - Omari - Johnson

Having Chappers, Smods and Philogene available would make a huge difference.
-1

Mariner1974 added 16:50 - Jan 15
I quite fancy Phillips and Morsy with Cajuste just ahead of them....Jack Clarke and Broadhead with Liam up top...Take control of that midfield...
1

Linkboy13 added 16:55 - Jan 15
Groin injuries are very difficult to treat in my experience and it's normally just a matter of rest but technology has changed a lot since i packed up but even so it's amazing that he could be playing tomorrow.
0

grinch added 17:58 - Jan 15
why clarke starting on peoples radar not really shown anything in Prem games for me bench as doesnt warrant a start curretly. We have better players for those positions. This is not a league 1 club we are facing tommorrow but a good prem team start with those who havr shown far more in recent months
-1

Bazza8564 added 19:25 - Jan 15
Not going to mark you down Grinch because it's a matter of opinion, but Jack Clarke is a huge potential, young player who has finally begun to find his feet at the Club. He made a very strong impact from the bench against Fulham and was inches from sealing that game for us. He was excellent against BR. I know you will argue thats a league one club but I think most our memories and sentiments with the likes of Burns and Broadhead were also forged at that level
I would suggest that fans are being a bit too sentimental in their opinions of some of the players who got us promoted, treat JC as an equal. For mw he is certainly equally qualifies as any of the fit options. I think Braodhead is a better impact player from the bench personally and he certainly doesn't have "starters legs" yet for the PL.
We are light up top, we need to show a bit of faith in those players that have yet to really shine
2


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