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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Nigel Pearson makes Weimann revelation as he sets Bristol City target ahead of fixture schedule

Nigel Pearson has given the green light for Andi Weimann to start against QPR on Saturday after confirming he is fit and raring to go following his injury scare on international duty.

The Austrian hobbled out of the game against France in the 50th minute and was an unused substitute against Croatia after being pictured with strapping around his left knee.

Bristol Live confirmed it was just a precautionary measure and would return to training on his return to the High Performance Centre and the Robins manager has further reassured supporters he'll be among the reckoning at the weekend after impressing during an 11 vs 11 training session on Thursday.

Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo and Tommy Conway were also in action over the international break and all returned to BS3 injury-free as the Robins prepare for a run of eight matches in October, and 12 before the World Cup break on November 13.

Speaking ahead of the visit of QPR, Pearson said: "He's fine, he's trained really well today. I'm just happy that our players are back and we need to make sure we get our final preparations right for the game against QPR because today and tomorrow are all we've got together.

"So that's the most important thing but I'll be happy if our players were able to play with the same levels of commitment and drive as we've had so far this year."

Pearson also laid down a challenge for striker Semenyo with the striker pushing for his first start of the season after recovering from a shin injury picked up in the summer. The Ghanaian has been explosive off the bench with four goals in just 172 minutes of football but may need to remain patient considering the form of Nahki Wells and Tommy Conway who have fired in 10 league goals between them in 10 games.

"When you consider it's a fracture he's returning from, a shin problem, it doesn't matter what it looks like we know what the right course of action is (and that is) to basically get him back into total fitness," he added.

"I think he's more or less available for selection from the start but he has to force his way into the team and that's the most important factor in all of this. Players that are in the side doing well need to be forced out of the team or have to perform well to retain their places."

City head into Saturday's game against Michael Beale's side just one point adrift of their opponents who occupy sixth spot. It's the first of seven home league matches in their next 11 Championship games and provides a golden opportunity to strengthen their hold in an intense promotion race.

As always, Pearson is wary of categorising fixtures but he has set a target for his side to be in the play-off hunt by the time the World Cup comes around next month. He said: "Whether it's at home or away it doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned in the regard to what we aim to do.

"We'd like to be around the top six when we get to the next break which is the World Cup so we've got a lot of games coming up and it's really important that we are still in a positive position when the next break comes along. That's going to take a lot of hard work from everybody in terms of trying to keep the squad fit and available and make sure our performance levels remain high.

"If we get to that break in a good position then I think we have more reasons to be optimistic."

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