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Rob Edwards confirmed ahead of the trip to Preston North End (Saturday August 20, 3pm KO) that Club Captain Tom Cleverley will be out for “a couple of weeks” with a calf injury.
The midfielder was substituted due to injury at half-time in the 1-0 win over Burnley last week, in which he scored the winner.
“He’s in a good place, we think it might be a couple of weeks,” said Edwards. “What we want to do is make sure we get this one right so he’s not coming back and fighting through any kind of pain, and then having to come out again. We think a couple of weeks should settle that area down and he’ll be back with the group.
“It’s one where we’ve all had to sit down and make sure we get it right, so he’s not in and out. When you start playing through some pain you can’t give your best, and we want him to give that.”
Ismaïla Sarr missed Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham City through a minor hamstring complaint, but has returned to the training pitch and may be in contention for the next game at Deepdale.
“He trained in part of the session yesterday which is good,” the Head Coach continued. “So we’ll keep assessing him all the way up until Saturday’s game.”
Elsewhere, Imrân Louza continues to make progress in his recovery from a knee injury sustained at the back end of last season.
Nigerian forward Samuel Kalu is also on the comeback trail, with midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru continuing rehabiliation for a knee ligament injury suffered earlier this month, that will see him out for “two or three months”.
