BRADFORD CITY AFC

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson will need to check on the fitness of a number of his squad players before finally naming a starting eleven for Saturday's Sky Bet League 1 fixture with Bristol City at the Coral Windows Stadium.

City head into their home encounter against Steve Cotterill's Robins with question marks against the names of some of their squad.

Nahki Wells (calf/hamstring) and Nathan Doyle (groin/hip) are both rated as doubtful for the Bristol City fixture and will need to be checked ahead of the weekend, while Andy Gray and Raffaele De Vita look set to miss out again.

Young striker Lewis Clarkson is another Bantam currently under observation after picking up a knee problem during the week.

Parkinson will definitely be without James Meredith after the left back broke a bone in his right foot during training on Tuesday. The Australian is set to see a foot specialist this week but it appears likely that he will be out injured for several weeks.

Fellow defender Matt Taylor is back training, however, after a recent hamstring problem. Influential centre half Andrew Davies is continuing to make progress from his long-stranding knee problem and is hopeful of making a return to action either later this month or the start of February.

Parkinson said: "They are all making progress but it is just a few of them, like Andy Gray, who are taking a bit longer than first anticipated to sort out.

"Pretty much all of the injuries are not long term though.

"A lot of teams sadly pick up knocks and niggles over the festive period and we were one of them this time around.

"We probably haven't had this sort of run with injuries in a good while during my time here and we do need them back as soon as possible.

"The important thing is how many of them we can get back for Saturday because most shouldn't be that far off.

"We are looking towards the second half of the season now and we need as many players free for selection as we can. Our free weekend last weekend certainly won't have harmed us in that regard."

Parkinson added: "Dava (Andrew Davies) started running again last week and he is continuing to progress his level of rehab now. He is running at greater pace now and also working on his general football-related movement.

"We don't want to rush him back though. We have waited a while for him to come back and he has to be right when he does.

"We are hopeful though that it won't be too long before he is available for selection once again."