Next weekend’s contest marks a clash between the last two season’s beaten play-off finalists, Coventry left broken-hearted after a 6-5 defeat on penalties in the 2022-23 Wembley final to Luton Town. Mark Robins’ side could then only manage a ninth-placed finish last season but the Sky Blues were and still are to a certain extent seen as among the main teams fancied for promotion from the 2024-25 campaign.
Coventry, though, have started the new season with a haul of just five points from their first six games, Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Swansea City leaving them sixth-bottom and just one point clear of the drop zone. Boss Robins has had plenty of injuries to contend with and Whites head coach Daniel Farke also had key men missing for the weekend’s visit to Cardiff City. Both teams now have a full week to prepare for Saturday afternoon’s 3pm kick-off and here we run through the injuries from both teams.
7. Max Wober (doubt)
United's Austrian international defender Wober returned from a knee compliant for light training last week, after which Farke was waiting to see how the 26-year-old's body would react. Farke said a late decision would be taken regarding his involvement at Cardiff where Wober failed to make the bench, leading to obvious elements of doubt for this weekend. Photo: Stu Forster
8. Dan James (out)
The one confirmed definite absentee, United's Wales international winger James currently sidelined with a hamstring injury until potentially the October international break. Photo: Gary Oakley
9. Jamie Allen (doubt)
A fresh blow to a key man for Coventry. Experienced midfielder Allen suffered a knee injury in the weekend's clash against Swansea and was forced off in just the 24th minute. He then left in a leg brace and with the aid of crutches. Robins said of Allen to Coventry Live: "He’s got a knee ligament injury, so he had to come off. He twisted it. I don’t know how bad it is yet but it’s a knee problem and we’re hoping it’s not a really serious one.” Photo: Michael Regan
10. Raphael Borges Rodrigues (doubt)
Australian youth international winger Raphael joined the Sky Blues this summer from Macarthur FC but the 21-year-old missed most of pre-season with a thigh strain that he then suffered another setback with. Raphael has yet to feature and Robins said in August that he would be out for "a while". Photo: Brendon Thorne