Bristol City is in line to receive a significant boost ahead of their season-opener against Walsall, with Michael Skubala confirming that Emil Riis and Yu Hirakawa are set to return to full team training at the start of next week.
What happened?
The pair have missed all of Bristol City's pre-season friendlies this summer with "niggles," but Skubala has revealed that they are making good progress and are expected to return to full training on Monday.
Why it matters for Bristol City
The return of Riis and Hirakawa will be a significant boost to the Robins' chances of a strong start to the season. The pair have been missing from the team's pre-season schedule, and their absence has been felt.
What comes next?
The Robins will welcome the Saddlers to Ashton Gate on Thursday evening in the first round of the Carabao Cup. Lee Grant's side finished 13th in League Two last term, 13 points adrift of the play-off places but a comfortable 26 clear of the relegation zone.
Bristol City have been building towards Thursday's meeting with Walsall since they returned to the High Performance Centre for pre-season testing back in late June. After a fortnight working on the Failand training pitches, City jetted to Spain in mid-July for a warm-weather training camp. Skubala's side concluded an intense week's work with a friendly clash against last season's beaten League One play-off finalists Stockport County.
Further friendly matches against Newport County, Swindon Town and Newcastle followed ahead of Saturday's Devon double-header. Now, with the final games of pre-season done and dusted, attention turns to the "real stuff," and with that in mind, the Robins will tweak their approach in training over the coming days.
"It is the real stuff; there's no doubt about it," Skubala insisted. "You see some strange results in pre-season. You see some good ones, you see some good things, you have to gel, and you have to blend a group together.
Everyone's pushing for a start, but it definitely starts the real stuff. Now, rather than pushing them too hard with double sessions and lots of information, we have to keep preparing for each separate game, like you normally do.
"This week's a bit more normal, even with the [game on] Thursday. Then, after that, we go into a clear week ready for Millwall. It is exciting now because we're getting, like you say, into the real stuff."
The meeting with Walsall had been scheduled to be played on Friday evening; however, it will now take place on Thursday, with the change to the schedule made in order to avoid conflicting with the EFL's TV schedule.
Bristol City finished 12th in the Championship last season, with 62 points from 46 games. They have scored 59 goals and conceded 59 so far this season, and are 33 points behind leaders Coventry. Their next fixture is against Charlton at home on February 27, 2027, where they will be looking to bounce back from a recent dip in form.
League standing (final 2025 table -- new season not yet under way): 12th in Championship, 62 pts, 17W-11D-18L from 46 games, recent form WLDLD. Goals this season: 59 scored, 59 conceded (0 goal difference). Title race: 33 points behind leaders Coventry. Next fixture: vs Charlton (at home, 2027-02-27) (19th in the table).
