Craig Shakespeare expects those who missed out against Brentford as a precaution to be back in full training when the build-up to the Premier League game against Leicester City begins this week.
Adam Masina, Craig Cathcart and Roberto Pereyra were all not risked against the Bees because of minor issues, while Kiko Femenía and Will Hughes were taken off as a precaution. The only players definitely unavailable to Head Coach Nigel Pearson and Shakespeare next week will be Gerard Deulofeu and Daryl Janmaat.
“Masina didn't start as he took a slight knock in training yesterday,” said Shakespeare. “It's precautionary. Same with Kiko (coming off) and Will Hughes (who came off), precautionary. We are expecting everyone to be training on Sunday if not Monday.”
While it is foolhardy to read too much into a 2-0 friendly win, there were plenty of positives to glean: a clean sheet, classy and industrious performances from goalscorer Étienne Capoue and Will Hughes while Ismaïla Sarr, who got a late second, looked full of running when he came off the bench. It's also much better to go into a league game on the back of a win, especially against a high-riding Championship side who beat Arsenal last time out.
“I was pleased with our shape,” said Shakespeare. “Pleased with our tempo and how, when they had the ball, we tried to exert some sort of tempo to the game. We gave everyone some minutes and overall I was pleased with a lot of aspects of our play.”
It was also a taster of what life will be like when playing behind closed doors for the rest of the season.
“You can give as much near the experience as possible, but the actual experience will be quite unique,” said the Assistant Coach.
“We know that it will be different. The players adapt and they are very quick to adapt. I'd always like to have the fans here as then I don't have to shout as loud, but we tried to give the players as much as possible the same experience as next week, like travelling in separate coaches, coming into the entrance, the dressing room and the red zone, as it's known. The most important thing is the performance on the pitch, the individual fitness and the collective football out on the pitch."
