Teemu Pukki will miss the next 2-3 weeks with a slight hamstring injury, Daniel Farke told the assembled media at Colney on Friday lunchtime in his usual pre-match presser.
The Boss on Teemu Pukki ⬇️
"It's a just a small muscle injury, we expect him to be out for about 2/3 weeks."#ncfc pic.twitter.com/6aulPioGZt
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) October 19, 2018
That is, of course, a huge blow to the Canary nation but, as ever, one player being injured means another gets the opportunity to replace him. Fortunately, the City squad is much stronger in depth than it was last season and the obvious replacement for Teemu will be Jordan Rhodes.
Rhodes started the season as the lone striker but due to the form of Pukki, coupled with Marco Stiepermann’s new found expertise as a number 10, he’s had to be content with late sub appearances recently.
Pukki’s injury also means Dennis Srbeny will likely get some more game time.
In other injury news, Grant Hanley is still not fully fit, being described as about 75% by Farke. Another 2-3 weeks should see him back and fit again. Another player who is about 2-3 weeks away from a return is Kenny McLean, who had an operation ten days ago on a troublesome ankle ligament and is currently still on crutches.
There’s better news surrounding Ben Marshall though, who is fit again following a bout of illness and other than that, the rest of the squad is in decent shape.
It’s slightly disappointing about Hanley, although his absence hasn’t been noticed too much due to the fine performances of Christoph Zimmermann and Ben Godfrey is there as a backup defender or midfielder, if needed. Kenny McLean is another disappointment, with the midfielder’s ankle needing surgery to sort out rather than rest.
That means we haven’t seen Kenny since the Stevenage Carabao Cup game in August and his Canary career is yet to really get going. From what I’ve seen of him in the past, he’s going to be an asset to us when the games come thick and fast over the winter period.
Daniel Farke is about to speak to the local media ahead of City's trip to Nottingham Forest tomorrow… #ncfc
Updates here ➡️ https://t.co/1i8JSSMuJs pic.twitter.com/vMarlarlXy
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) October 19, 2018
OTBC