Bristol City sweating on the fitness of midfield maestro Matty James

Bristol City could be without one of their key players for their trip to Coventry City on Saturday.

Matty James was withdrawn just before the hour mark in the Robins’ 3-0 defeat to Birmingham City.

It proved to be a poor night for Nigel Pearson’s side, who were unable to string a second consecutive win together whilst also losing one of their pivotal midfielders.

James, who had played every minute of the Championship season, was fortunate to play in the game, having sustained an injury from the win over Barnsley, it was revealed.

Commenting on the matter, the manager said: “It’s a foot injury that he had from the weekend and it was touch-and-go today,” Pearson said in his post-match press conference.

“For us to get nearly 60 minutes out of him was good and hopefully he’ll be okay for the weekend because we need him.

“We’ve had players who have not performed when the heat starts to rise, when Matty James went off we totally lost control of the ball which shows how important he is to us.”

After his departure from the pitch, the midfield fell apart and shipped two further goals in the second-period, having been competitive in the first half.

City have to get back on that horse again though and are on the road once more, travelling to the Midlands for a second time in a week, this time to face Coventry, who are one of James’ former clubs.

Highlighting James’ role in the side, we can look at the core statistic that he has just one assist this season but that is not his game as he is a defensive midfielder.

The 30-year-old was replaced by Massengo on Saturday, which made for a midfield pairing of himself and Bakinson, but the two are both attack minded players.

His statistics on WhoScored says that he makes on average 2.4 tackles a game which is the highest amongst the squad with Han-Noah Massengo the closest to him at 2.1

This could signal a start for Massengo but instead a new role in which he is responsible for breaking up opposition attacks rather than making them.

On a whole, James is ranked fifth in City’s best performing players this season, which shows that he’ll be a miss should he not feature against his former club on Saturday.

Andy King, who could have deputised for James, has been on the sidelines for the last four games and will not return until at least December after undergoing hamstring surgery.

Should James be fit for Saturday it will come as a boost for a side who need to bounce back to avoid being sucked into a relegation fight. If he misses out? Then it’s up to the player which deputises for him to step up to the plate.