Coventry City travel away to Bristol City for the first fixture of the Championship campaign. Mark Robins' side will be looking for a strong start to the season after a successful EFL League One winning campaign. Their host's will be looking to better a 12th place finish and push for a play-off place.
Team news
The Robins are without Callum O'Dowda due to a groin injury that could see him out until early October. Apart from that there are no fresh injury concerns.
However, when discussing squad selection, Dean Holden told Robins TV: “We’ll look at who is available because some of the new boys won’t be as fit as others. Brunt and Martin haven’t had a club, even the two Fulham lads in Alfie and Sess haven’t had much training or game time. We want to win the first game, we want to hit the ground running this season but at the same time we have to be smart and judge the players individually."
Coventry City have just lost star winger Jodi Jones due to an ACL injury but apart from that they're at full strength.
Predicted line-ups
Bristol City: Bentley, Moore, Baker, Kalas, Eliasson, Massengo, Walsh, Palmer, Weinmann, Paterson, Diedhiou.
Coventry City: Marosi, McFadzean, Hyam, Rose, Dabo, McCallum, Kelly, Westbrooke, O'Hare, Bakayako, Godden.
One to watch
This could easily be Liam Walsh if he features fro Bristol City, the central-midfielder made 34 appearances in all competitions, scoring four and assisting six. After a succesfull loan spell at Coventry, Walsh won three of the clubs end of season awards including the Young Player of the Year award, the Players’ Player of the Year award and the Goal of the Season award. With the two clubs playing a similar style of play and system Walsh comfortably fits in to both teams.
His role is to slot in front of the back four and dictate play. His vast knowledge of Coventry's squad, the way they play, the characters and their weak areas will give him a big boost in the game, allowing him to be one step ahead of his opponents.
Previous meetings
The head to head record between the two sides are even with 22 draws and wins for both teams. This was shown in there last face-off in 2015 when the game ended 0-0. However, arguably the best encounter between these tow sides was in 2013 when The Sky Blues won 5-4.
How to watch
The game will be available to Bristol City fans on ‘Robins TV’ or for both sets of fans on the streaming service ‘iFollow’.
Managers thoughts
Speaking ahead of the game, Holden said: "I’m pleased with our incomings, there’s a nice spirit building as well and the standard in training this week has been high. The new guys want to show how good they are and the guys already in the building want to show they’ve got a bit as well. Training has been good, I feel relaxed and ready for tomorrow. I can’t wait for the first game!"
On Coventry's return to the Championship, Robins told Coventry City: “We’re excited, it’s a long time coming.
“We are over a month from where we normally would’ve been, but we’re all excited. I think it’s going to be a tough fixture but it’s a brilliant one for us to start with.”
Discussing the step up in level, he said: “I think for us, we won’t do anything differently, we’ve just got to do it probably better and quicker but those are things that we have to practice to improve, but in all fairness I think that we’ve got brought some good players and the players that were here last season, there are still a large number of and they’re all raring to go."