Bristol City injury news: Ex-Newcastle United coach makes Sunderland 'pressure' claim

Bristol City have been urged to ignore Sunderland’s defeat against Blackburn Rovers as they prepare to travel to the Stadium of Light without four members of their squad.

The Robins are also awaiting news on the fitness of one other as they look to secure a third consecutive win after taking maximum points from Plymouth Argyle and Leicester City over the last week. Hamstring injuries mean Kai Naismith and Sam Bell are definitely out of the visit to Wearside, with the latter expected to miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery.

Rob Atkinson has also been ruled out of the rest of the campaign with an anterior cruciate ligament injury that has meant he has not been able to make an appearance this season. Academy product Ayman Benarous has made appearances for the Robins Under-21s since returning from an ACL injury but is not available and there is a doubt over Taylor Gardner-Hickman after he missed the wins against Plymouth and Leicester with a calf injury.

The Stadium of Light clash will see one key member of the Robins coaching staff return to the North East after Middlesbrough-born assistant head coach Chris Hogg was named as Liam Manning’s number two when he replaced Nigel Pearson in November. The former Newcastle United academy coach oversaw media duties on Friday and revealed his players are not paying any attention to Sunderland’s heavy loss against Blackburn Rovers and will only focus on their own preparations for the game.

The former Magpies coach said: “(The Blackburn loss) doesn’t change our preparation. We try and cover every angle in terms of the opposition and what our game-plan is and what we might do when we go places. We want to try and put pressure on every team and that will be no different this weekend. Sunderland are Sunderland, they have their own priorities in terms of how they’ll approach the game on the back of that result, which is a difficult one for them, but I think for us it’s more looking at ourselves first and making sure we nail our actions and making sure we perform the way we can.”