Bristol City team news ahead of Burnley as Liam Manning sheds light on Joe Williams injury

Bristol City will be without Joe Williams for their clash with Burnley with the midfielder set to be ruled out for months with a partial Achilles tendon tear.

The former Everton player last played for the Robins in their 3-1 win over Preston North End before the international break, but was replaced by Marcus McGuane after just over half an hour of action and subsequently missed showdowns with Sheffield United at Ashton Gate and Norwich City at Carrow Road.

Although the 27-year-old has been plagued by injury issues in the past, he seemed to have finally brushed off his fitness concerns as he managed to be involved in all 12 of City’s opening 13 Championship games, only missing the draw with Leeds through suspension, which allowed McGuane the chance to make his first start.

The Reds midfield has managed to cope well in Williams’ absence, but the Robins will have to face the busy festive period without the ex-Wigan man’s services with Manning confirming the injury was a serious one.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s match, Manning said: “Joe’s going to be out for a considerable time, he had a partial tear of the Achilles. He was actually in London today to see the specialist but we’re talking months for Joe.

“It’s a really unfortunate one and one that’s tricky to heal just because of how the Achilles tend to repair so he’s one we’re going to have to be careful with.”

Fortunately, Manning will be able to call upon club captain Jason Knight for the meeting with Scott Parker’s side at Ashton Gate. Ireland had initially taken to X to suggest the midfielder was ruled out with an injury for their 5-0 defeat to England in a post that was later deleted and the Reds boss confirmed that was nothing more than a “miscommunication."

Similarly, George Tanner’s knock doesn’t appear to be quite as severe as initially thought with Manning confirming the right-back’s recovery was already progressing quicker than expected after he was also forced off in the win at Deepdale.

“George is moving nicely, he’s a bit ahead of schedule,” Manning explained. “When you see the video back it’s a really innocuous fall. He does the splits and lands funny with his knee so he’s actually on the ‘Alter-G’ we call it, the antigravity treadmill running at a certain percent of body weight. He’s progressing well.”

Sam Bell is also nearing a return, with the City head coach admitting the attacker could be involved in an Under-21's fixture next week, while both Kal Naismith and Ross McRorie are progressing well with their recovery.

Whether or not Scott Twine will return to the fold against his former club remains up in the air, however. The attacking midfielder hasn’t featured since the Severnside derby draw with Cardiff City at Ashton Gate at the start of October following his big-money summer move from Turf Moor.

Before the international break, Manning revealed the 25-year-old was closing in on a return to training and while he has been involved over the break, the Reds boss admitted it wasn’t yet clear whether Saturday afternoon’s showdown with the Clarets would see him thrown back into the fold.

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“We’ve got a few that are close,” the City boss said. “I don’t want to give my hand for the weekend on who might be back and who might not to be honest but we’ve definitely got some that are a lot closer.

“Twiney’s done a little bit, but still a question mark on whether he’s available but he’s getting close which is great considering the period we’ve got coming up. We’ve obviously get Rob Dickie back which is good coming into a heavy period, it’s good to get some more bodies back and more quality.

“That’s the big bit, we’re going into a heavy period in a slightly different stage to where I think we were last year. We’ve got depth, we’ve got competition, and we’ve got the options to make changes and sustain if not raise our level in recent weeks.

“I think the squads are in a good place, Of course, we want to get people back but when we get people back we want to keep them back.”