Nigel Pearson’s six-word response when asked about Bristol City status of Andi Weimann

Nigel Pearson says Andi Weimann has trained ‘really well’ amid early worries of an injury that could have forced him out of action for Bristol City with an injury.

There had been a worry about the Austrian missing out a Nations League match for Austria on Sunday due to an injury sustained against France last Thursday.

The 31-year-old looks likely to play a part on Saturday, but will have to battle for a place in the starting XI, with the injury situation assessed before kick-off..

Weimann remains an influential figure with four assists and three goals in ten matches this season. He has followed on from his stellar campaign where he was ever present, scoring 22 goals and earning 10 assists.

Whilst Weimann was included, Bristol City played an 11 v 11 match but had to rely on the inclusions of five of their Under-21’s squad to beef up the teams with international players phased back in.

“He’s fine, he’s trained really well,” said Pearson in response to whether he had been carrying an injury when he returned.

“They’re all back now, we’ve trained together today, it’s a very positive day. I’m just happy that our players are back and we need to make sure we get our final preparation right for QPR. Today and tomorrow is all we have got together. It’s the most important thing.

“I will be happy if our players are able to play with the same level of commitment and drive as we have had this season. We’ve started pretty well.”

How City perform in their next block of fixtures could be the marker for what defines success and failure this season. The Robins are back in Championship action following a fortnights break because of the international period.

Several players jetted off to represent their countries whilst a chunk of the squad were afforded their own holidays as they recovered from a congested fixture period.

12 fixtures including 11 league matches will be played from now until November 13, which is when the pause for the World Cup starts. Thrown in to the mix is a Carabao Cup third round clash against Lincoln City, but City’s priority is to be successful in the Championship.

“We would like to be around the top six when we get to the next break which is for the World Cup,” he said in his pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Queens Park Rangers.

“It’s a lot of games, we have got 12 games coming up and it’s really important that we are still in a positive position when the next break comes along.”

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work from everyone to keep the squad fit and available, as well as making sure our performance levels remain high.

“If we get to that break in a good position, we have more reasons to be optimistic.”

A block of 11 league matches would take them to one-game short of the half-way stage of the Championship season. At the same stage of the competition last year, they were situated in 17th, which is there they ended up finishing.

Ambitions for this season are slightly higher after a relatively positive start.  Eyes are on getting in to the top six which would give them their first play-off spot since 2008.

In the current campaign, City have managed to claim back-to-back wins, which is something that alluded them for a large chunk of last year, but enter Saturday’s match with back-to-back losses.

The next block of fixtures begins when Michael Beale’s side play at Ashton Gate on Saturday, sitting three places above them in the table, though only a point separates them.

Pearson said: “We’ll be in a better or more realistic place to have designs what we can or can’t achieve this season. We want to be in or around the play-off places come that World Cup break.

“It will remain very tight and you look at the table. The points difference between just above the relegation places to the play-off places is minimal.

“We’ve got to continue get our level of performances right. If we do that we can continue to win games.”