UP to seven Millwall players are set to miss this Saturday’s clash against Middlesborough after Ryan Leonard and Aidomo Emakhu joined the injury list.
Leonard is set to be out for six weeks in a major blow to the Lions with a hamstring issue he sustained during the 3-2 FA Cup loss to Leicester City on Saturday.
Emakhu, meanwhile, is set for three weeks on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder in training last week.
The pair join Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Shaun Hutchinson, Murray Wallace and Casper De Norre among the Millwall players affected by injury while George Saville will have to serve the final game of his suspension.
But there is good news with Norton-Cuffy potentially able to join the matchday squad on Saturday while De Norre is back in full training but will miss at least one game more.
Millwall head coach Joe Edwards said: “Aidomo saw a specialist and he’s estimated three weeks where he’ll do a week of individual training this week, a week of non-contact training next week and then a week hopefully of full training leading towards the Preston game with a view to being available for selection against Preston. That’s the plan.
“When people return from dislocated shoulders, there’s always an element of ‘something could happen’ so we have our fingers crossed that the plan is able to be followed. It’s relatively good news, it could have been worse, he could have needed surgery.
“Ryan, not so good. It looks around a grade two hamstring injury so we’ll miss Ryan for six weeks.”
On Norton-Cuffy, the Lions boss said: “Brooke’s actually progressing quite well, so we’ll be looking at it closer towards the end of the week. I’d imagine Brooke would really struggle to be in a position to start the game but to possibly be involved in the squad against Middlesborough from the bench, there’s a chance. But we have to see how the week goes. But Brooke’s progressed slightly better than we expected.”
And on De Norre, who has missed the last nine games with a calf issue, Edwards added: “Casper’s back in full training as of this week. Joined in last week with some modified stuff. You can see that fitness is an issue with Casper in that he’s had a longer-term injury so it’s about integrating him firstly from a point-of-view where he’s medically fit but now also getting him up to speed.
“He won’t make the Middlesborough squad but hopefully next week we’ll be looking to get him back in.”
Despite the absences, Edwards believes Millwall still have enough to be competitive.
He said: “If you look at the team we finished with in the second half [against Leicester], I think pretty much everyone that finished the game is still available and I thought our second half performance was strong. So in terms of being able to field a competitive team and keep a bit of continuity from some of the good work we did on Saturday, we’re in a decent place still.
“But of course it leaves us a bit light in terms of experienced players on the bench but as you saw against Leicester, it gave the opportunity for some younger players to be involved.
“But certainly you need to have a squad with good depth and we’ll be looking forward to the return of the boys over the next weeks.”
