Coventry City continued their unbeaten start to the season with a goalless draw at Midland rivals Leicester at the weekend, and now turn their attention to another big derby day.
The Sky Blues are preparing to host Birmingham City at a sell-out CBS Arena in another 12.30pm kick-off and a fixture that always excites the fans from both camps.
Blues have spent big in the summer as they look to re-establish themselves in the Championship following a year in League One. And with ambitious owners at the helm, they’re looking to push for promotion. So far they’ve made a steady start to the 2025/26 campaign, winning three, drawing one and losing two of their opening matches to leave them in eighth place in the table.
A 1-0 St Andrew’s victory over Swansea at the weekend got Chris Davies’ men back on track following back-to-back away defeats at Leicester and Stoke.
Coventry, meanwhile, have made a solid and hugely encouraging start but, as Saturday’s match at the King Power Stadium highlighted, have been tested with early season injuries within a thin looking squad in certain areas. Winger Ephron Mason-Clark was a huge miss against the Foxes where midfielder Josh Eccles made a return to action from the bench after sitting out for three and a half months over the summer – the Academy graduate getting 15 minutes to help see out the game.
Here we take a look at City’s injuries ahead of the weekend.
Ephron Mason-Clark
Injury: hamstring
What’s been said: “He’s got a hamstring injury, which was basically from the Norwich game last weekend and we’ve had to assess it and we’re hoping he’s fit for the next run of games.”
Return date: Birmingham (Sept 27)
Kaine Kesler-Hayden
Injury: ankle
What do we know: The right-back was absent from the matchday squad against Norwich due to an ankle problem originating from the Millwall game in the EFL Cup. Providing an update on Friday (Sept 19), Lampard said: “He’s ready to train with us next week, so we’re hoping he’ll be available for the Birmingham game onwards at the minute. He was out on the grass yesterday on his own, so hopefully he’ll be back with us soon.”