Injury briefing: injured Neymar will miss PSG Champions League games

Injury briefing

1 Mixed news for PSG

Paris St-Germain are going to have to wait at least another month to select a full-strength attack after Neymar suffered a left thigh injury during the international break.

The Brazilian started Sunday's Singapore friendly match against Nigeria but lasted just 12 minutes before breaking down with an injury which is expected to rule him out until after the November international break.

Neymar is set to miss at least seven games, including the matchday three and four Champions League matches against Club Brugge.

His loss should be partly offset by the expected return of Kylian Mbappe, who is close to fully recovering from a thigh strain.

Mbappe has not played since the end of August but is expected to be in contention for Tuesday's trip to Belgium.

2 Manchester City stronger for Crystal Palace visit

Manchester City cannot afford to lose much more ground in the title race but their chances of winning at Crystal Palace are boosted by the availability of key duo Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne.

Aguero's fitness had seemed in doubt when a minor injury ruled him out of contention for Argentina during the international break and he was then involved in a car crash.

But Aguero has returned to training, alongside De Bruyne and John Stones.

De Bruyne's return to full fitness fits in with the timeline laid out by Pep Guardiola two weeks ago.

He could be in line to start but Guardiola may have to be more careful with Stones, who has not featured since the 3-2 loss at Norwich in mid-September.

Getting Stones back to full fitness will be a major boost because City are not expecting Aymeric Laporte to be available until next year.

3 Crocked Canaries on the mend

The international break has provided some light at the end of the tunnel for Norwich, who have seen five of their injured players – Tom Trybull, Tim Krul, Alex Tettey, Onel Hernandez and Mario Vrancic – return to training.

However, there are still plenty of problems for Norwich manager Daniel Farke to navigate before selecting a team to face Bournemouth at Dean Court.

Christoph Zimmermann and Timm Klose are long-term absentees and Jamal Lewis, Grant Hanley and Ralf Fahrmann appear to remain out of contention.

There are further doubts over the fitness of Todd Cantwell and Kenny McLean, who returned early from international duty with England Under-21's and Scotland respectively.

And there is a major doubt over defender Ben Godfrey, who underwent a hernia operation earlier this month.

4 Double defensive blow for Blackburn

Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray will have to make two changes to his back four for their home match with Huddersfield after confirming that centre-back Darragh Lenihan and left-back Greg Cunningham are facing spells on the sidelines.

Lenihan and Cunningham were both injured during Blackburn's 4-2 loss to QPR at Loftus Road before the international break.

Cunningham's injury is set to rule him out for most of the season but the prognosis is not quite as bleak for Lenihan, who faces six-to-eight weeks on the sidelines.

Lenihan's loss could be the bigger blow as Blackburn have lacked quality cover at centre-back since sanctioning the season long loan departure of Scotland international Charlie Mulgrew to Wigan.

5 Injury cheer for Charlton

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer will have a stronger squad at his disposal for the clash at home to Derby after defender Ben Purrington, midfielder Beram Kayal and striker Tomer Hemed returned to full training.

All three are expected to be in contention and Purrington, the club's first-choice left-back, is expected to come straight back into the side.

Bowyer still has to make do without star striker Lyle Taylor and midfielder George Lapslie and will make a late decision on attacking midfielder Chuks Aneke, who is battling a groin strain.

6 Fitness boosts for Crawley

Crawley overcame the absence of four injured senior players (defenders Joe McNerney and Josh Dacres-Cogley and attackers Ollie Palmer and Ashley Nadesan) to post a 2-1 home victory over Colchester last Saturday but may not be far away from full-strength for the clash at Bradford.

Red Devils' boss Gabriele Cioffi spoke after the Colchester success and gave upbeat updates on three of the four players who missed out.

He said: "Joe McNerney came back to training last week. He's missing 25 per cent of his fitness but he's a great professional and he'll be ready soon.

"Ollie should be training with us this week. Nadesan is back in a matter of days."

Cioffi was less positive about the fitness of Dacres-Cogley, who is expects to be unavailable until December.

Gaffer tracker

Mark Bowen (Reading)

Mark Bowen has expressed his surprise and delight after being asked to switch roles from technical director to head coach of Reading - replacing Jose Gomes in the Royals' hotseat.

As technical director, Bowen had been tasked with identifying a replacement for Gomes, who paid the price for a six-game winless run which left Reading languishing in the Sky Bet Championship drop zone.

Bowen was going through the process of talking to two unnamed candidates when the Reading board asked him to take over in the dugout.

The appointment of Bowen seems like a risky move, bearing in mind his total lack of management experience.

Previously, he has worked regularly with Mark Hughes – assisting him with Wales, Blackburn, Manchester City, Fulham, QPR, Stoke and Southampton.

Phil Parkinson (Sunderland)

Phil Parkinson conducted himself admirably in tough circumstances at Bolton and should have far more resources at Sunderland, where he has agreed a contract until the end of the 2021-22 season.

He got Bolton promoted from Sky Bet League One while they were under a transfer embargo, so it is easy to see while Sunderland bosses feel he will be a good choice.

However, Bolton's direct style of play often grated on their supporters and similar criticisms were vented at Jack Ross before he was sacked.

Sunderland have lost just two matches this term and have overcome Premier League duo Burnley and Sheffield United in the EFL Cup.

However, a club of their size should be playing higher than League One and anything less than promotion will be seen as a failure.

Carl Fletcher (Leyton Orient)

Over three weeks have passed since Ross Embleton announced his intention to step down as Leyton Orient's interim boss - returning to his former role as assistant manager – and the identity of his replacement was revealed on Wednesday when Carl Fletcher agreed a deal until the end of next season.

Embleton stepped up to the plate at a difficult time - providing much needed leadership in the wake of the sudden death of Justin Edinburgh.

And, thanks to his hard work, Fletcher will inherit a team on the up.

Orient have taken seven points from their last three games, including Saturday's impressive 3-1 success at home to Walsall, when they recovered from 1-0 down at the break.

Fletcher will probably lean heavily on Embleton's expertise as he settle back into a managerial role for the first time in almost seven years.

He endured a difficult 15-month spell at Plymouth and was sacked on New Year's Day 2013 with the club 21st in League Two.

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