Bristol City players will return to the High Performance Centre next week to begin a mini pre-season ahead of their return to action.
The Robins will also face an as yet unnamed Premier League side in a friendly which is set to be behind closed doors, likely to be on the weekend of December 3. City head to Rotherham United seven days later as their Championship campaign gets back underway.
The first-team players have been off this week, spending time out of the country or with their families. Andi Weimann, who gave City an injury scare while on international duty with Austria, has eased concerns by heading to the Maldives with his family.
City players have been away with their heart rate belts to keep on top of their fitness during the break to ensure they hit the ground running when they reunite next week. The break has also given the likes of Kal Naismith and Tomas Kalas time to recover from their injuries.
Naismith hasn't featured since the 0-0 draw with Coventry on October 4. An initial 10 days diagnosis with a calf injury saw the central defender struggling with his recovery with Nigel Pearson calling for patience.
Kalas is another player who is struggling with a calf injury following his return to the side from a long-term knee issue. He made two substitute appearances in October, after seven months out injured, before heading back to the treatment room.
Until the players return to training next week, it's unclear to gauge whether they will be fit when they head to Rotherham but Pearson revealed it was an opportunity to get some players back. He before the break: "I’m just viewing it as it that it’s here and we will do our best to get as many people back as possible, It’s an opportunity but I don’t welcome it.
"They'll have some time off, a programme to do and a mini pre-season. It's important to get that break and something that we will have one or two players back from injury then it's a 25-game season."
Pearson has also been using the break to work on his potential January transfer shortlist with the intention of moving swiftly if deals can be done. The City manager is targeting a new defender but can only do a deal if they raise funds through player sales.
He added: "It’s going to be an important time for us to prepare for the next window depending on whether we can or can’t do business. We’ve still got to do the groundwork on that, if we do business, I will want to do it immediately.
“I don’t want to do it at the end of January because it’s a waste of time and we’ll have wasted a month. If we do have aspirations to bring people in it makes sense to do it as early as possible. This build-up to the World Cup break or just until the window opens is always very important.”
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