injury boost :as midfield machine set to start against Bristol City

Nothing to lose with perfect opportunity for Coventry City experiment at Bristol

Coventry City comment from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner looks at Mark Robins’ holding midfield options for the weekend

Coventry City return to Championship action this weekend with a trip to Bristol City – a side who have had a similar start to the Sky Blues, both sitting in mid-table having taken 15 points from their opening 11 games of the 2023/24 campaign. It’s a fixture in which Mark Robins will be hoping to welcome back Ben Sheaf to his matchday squad to help ease his current central midfield shortage.

City’s best man in the holding role, however, has been out for around six weeks with an adductor strain and therefore more likely to be eased back in from the bench rather than thrown straight back into the starting line-up. Liam Kelly is also hoped to be close to a return but Saturday is likely to come too soon for the skipper who had been deputising for Sheaf.

When Kelly limped off with a hamstring tear against Blackburn Rovers the obvious choice was the versatile Jamie Allen to drop back from his more attacking role behind the strikers to provide emergency cover in a position he’s no stranger to and more than capable of operating in to good effect. Robins has another option, of course, in Joel Latibeaudiere but has so far been reluctant to deploy the centre-half out of his recognised position for his club.

The manager did, however, call upon the Jamaican international for the last 20-odd minutes against Norwich last time out, initially going on at wing-back before quickly being switched (four minutes later to be exact) into midfield to cover for Allen who, having made his third start in the space of eight days following his return to full fitness, had run out of energy.

Speaking about Latibeaudiere’s late cameo, Robins admitted afterwards that “…he actually did pretty well in there (defensive midfield) and it’s good to see live against a good side when we’re in control, and know that he can do that job. So that’s important.”

That being the case, surely this weekend would be the ideal opportunity to give the summer signing from Swansea a go in the position from the start, leaving Allen to operate higher up where he’s arguably more effective from an attacking point of view. Yasin Ayari can play as the No.10 but going on Allen’s inspired display at QPR, you’d fancy him to produce another hugely influential display after being rested for a couple of weeks over the international break.

Latibeaudiere, meanwhile, has had a couple of games for his country in midfield in recent days, playing 45 minutes in a 4-1 win in Grenada last Friday (Oct 13) and 79 minutes in a 3-2 victory in Haiti at the start of the new week (Mon, Oct 16), which ensures he has the rest of the week to recover. With plenty of central defensive options at his disposal, the 22-year-old could be spared for a one-off job which, if successful, might just give the manager food for thought for the future.