Pearson’s Midfield Injury Boost

Midfielder Danny Drinkwater hasn’t played since the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on New Year’s Day where he limped off after 37 minutes with a groin problem.
Pearson has been short of central midfield options over the past few games with Drinkwater, Dean Hammond and Esteban Cambiasso all nursing injuries.
But Drinkwater, City’s Player of the Year last season, could return as early as Saturday having trained well this week.
"Dean Hammond's unlikely to be available, we will have to see how things go,” said the City boss. “Cambiasso has not trained fully yet. “Danny Drinkwater is training and in contention and Matty James is obviously unavailable through suspension.
"We've managed a hectic period with just one or two injuries. They're making good progress.”
Pearson also gave an update on the injuries of winger Jeff Schlupp, Kasper Schmeichel and defender Matthew Upson.
While Schlupp has a knee problem, Schmeichel continues his recovery from a broken metatarsal and Upson is edging closer to match fitness.
He added: “With Jeff, he’s making good progress. At the time we said 10 days to two weeks and he’s not far away, so that’s good for us.
“With Matt and Kasper, I couldn’t tell you. Kasper is still in his boot – I think we said from the outset it will be about 10 weeks before we can give you anything further than that and that remains the same.
“Again, with Matt, I can’t really say. He played an hour in an Under-21s game and he’s still not quite in the position where he can back that up – hopefully that’s pretty soon.”