Injury Briefing: Man City defence much stronger with Aymeric Laporte fit

Manchester City close to full strength for derby duel

Aymeric Laporte made a triumphant return to Manchester City's starting line-up on Tuesday, featuring for 77 minutes of the 1-0 victory at Sheffield United, and could be part of a near full-strength team when the Citizens hosts Manchester United in next Tuesday's EFL Cup semi-final second leg.

Laporte's absence has been widely identified as a key reason for City's defensive struggles this season.

Extra weight was added to that argument at Bramall Lane, where the 25-year-old helped City register their first clean sheet in six games.

Laporte's return was partly offset by the absences of David Silva, Benjamin Mendy and John Stones, who were missing with minor injuries.

But Pep Guardiola allayed supporters' fears after the game and suggested Mendy and Stones could return in time for next week's derby clash.

Silva's problem has not been disclosed but there was further good news over the status of long-term absentee Leroy Sane (knee), who is set to return to full training this week.

Werder Bremen battling defensive injury crisis

Relegation-threatened Werder Bremen picked up a massive three points with their 1-0 victory at fellow strugglers Fortuna Dusseldorf on Saturday but it came at a cost with two of their three starting centre-backs failing to finish the game.

Kevin Vogt was carried off after a collision with Fortuna goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka and was later diagnosed with concussion.

Vogt misses Sunday's trip to his parent club Hoffenheim and Finnish defender Niklas Moisander is suspended after he was sent off deep into added time.

They are joined on the sidelines by four more injured defenders - Ludwig Augustinsson, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Michael Lang and Philipp Bargfrede - who are not expected recover in time for the weekend.

West Brom Albion lose attacking duo

Sky Bet Championship leaders West Brom are coming under massive pressure and must negotiate the next three games without one of their star attackers, Matheus Pereira, who must serve a suspension for violent conduct.

Pereira was retrospectively punished by the FA after catching Stoke midfielder Joe Allen with his elbow in the first half of Monday's 1-0 home defeat.

The loss extended Albion's winless league sequence to six and was compounded by a first-half hamstring injury to Grady Diangana.

Pereira, who is top of the Championship assists table with 11, misses Saturday's FA Cup trip to West Ham and league matches away to Cardiff at home to Luton.

But he may return sooner than Diangana, who seems to have suffered a similar injury to the one which sidelined him for four weeks between mid-December and mid-January.

Albion struggled without Diangana, who offers valuable width, and could find life even more tricky without Pereira, who provides much of their creativity.

Two more blows for Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate has been coping with an injury-ravaged squad for much of the season and his problems increased during Tuesday's 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham with defender Dael Fry and attacker Patrick Roberts suffering hamstring injuries which forced them off before half-time.

Losing Fry looks the bigger blow because Boro were already short of defenders with Dani Ayala, Anfernee Dijksteel, George Friend and Ryan Shotton working their way back from injuries.

Key striker Britt Assombalonga has missed the last six weeks with an ankle injury but is back in training and could return to the squad.

It means Boro at least have good options in attack with Assombalonga, Rudy Gestede and Ashley Fletcher competing to play at centre-forward.

Swindon reeling from Jerry Yates recall

Swindon have been top of Sky Bet League Two since November but their promotion hopes are hanging in the balance after 12-goal striker Jerry Yates was recalled by his parent club, Rotherham, on Wednesday.

Earlier this month the Robins were reeling from Bradford's decision to call back striker Eoin Doyle, who tops Swindon's scoring charts with 23 league goals.

Swindon wanted Yates to help fill the void but those hopes have been dashed and they have moved to sign Hallam Hope on an 18-month deal from Carlisle.

Hope could make his debut at home to Port Vale tomorrow but his statistics this season (three goals in 30 appearances) do not inspire much confidence.

It leaves the Wiltshire club coming to terms with the loss of a front two who have contributed 35 of their 49 league goals this season.

Their manager, Richie Wellens, may look to strengthen other areas of the squad to lessen the impact of an injury crisis.

He has been short of options in defence with Dion Conroy, Mathieu Baudry and Zeki Fryers injured and admitted to pressing right-back Paul Caddis into action at Newport last Saturday despite the player suffering from a hamstring niggle.

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