Weekend Briefing: Ins, outs & injury doubts for this week's matches

Newcastle pair doubtful for Manchester City FA Cup clash

A late Aston Villa equaliser denied Newcastle a third straight Premier League win on Wednesday evening and Magpies boss Steve Bruce has a couple of injury concerns for the FA Cup quarter-final against holders Manchester City.

Winger Matt Ritchie and midfielder Isaac Hayden came off in the second half against Villa and Bruce confirmed that both players had sustained soft-tissue injuries.

Asked whether they will recover in time for Sunday's home game against City, he said: "We will have to wait and see. We hope we've caught it [in time], it's more precautionary."

The Citizens will be without striker Sergio Aguero, who had knee surgery in Barcelona on Wednesday. The operation was a success but Aguero may not be fit for the resumption of the Champions League in August.

Sheffield Wednesday braced for loss of five senior players

Sheffield Wednesday travel to Bristol City in the Sky Bet Championship on Sunday after a difficult week for the Owls.

Steven Fletcher, Fernando Forestieri and Morgan Fox will all leave the club at the end of June after turning down new contracts and Sam Winnall and Sam Hutchinson will also be released.

The situation may mean that manager Garry Monk has only 15 senior outfield players to choose from at Ashton Gate with Jordan Rhodes and Atdhe Nuhiu his only striking options.

Nuhiu, along with Paul Jones and Kieran Lee, has signed a contract extension until the end of the season and the club are negotiating loan extensions for Alessio Da Cruz, Jacob Murphy, Connor Wickham and Josh Windass.

Mixed news for Blackburn Rovers before derby clash with Wigan Athletic

In-form Lancashire rivals Wigan and Blackburn meet on Saturday and Rovers right-back Ryan Nyambe is fit to return to Tony Mowbray's starting 11.

The Namibia international missed Blackburn's victory over Bristol City with a dead leg but fellow defenders Amari'i Bell and Derrick Williams will miss the trip to the DW Stadium.

"Amari’i and Derrick are not quite ready yet," said Mowbray. "There are situations where you try and work out whether you gamble or not, and I don’t think we've reached that stage yet."

Reading striker Lucas Joao unlikely to feature against Derby County

Lucas Joao made the perfect return to action for Reading, scoring in the seventh minute of last weekend's game against Stoke, but the Portuguese striker had to come off before half-time because of a tight hamstring.

That is a concern for the Royals as Joao had not played for them since suffering a hamstring injury at Fulham on New Year's Day and he is unlikely to be risked against Derby on Saturday.

All change for Athletic Bilbao after La Liga defeat at Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao are set to make sweeping changes to the 11 who lost 1-0 to Barcelona at Camp Nou on Tuesday when they take on Mallorca on Saturday.

Coach Gaizka Garitano could recall Iker Muniain, Dani Garcia, Raul Garcia and Inigo Martinez to the starting 11 and left-back Yuri Berchiche is available after suspension.

Midfielder Benat and winger Ibai Gomez remain sidelined for the Basque side.

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