Karlan Grant: Cardiff City ease fears over forward's hamstring injury
- Published
Karlan Grant has scored four goals in 25 Cardiff appearances
FA Cup third round: Sheffield Wednesday v Cardiff City |
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Venue: Hillsborough, Sheffield Date: Saturday, 6 January Kick off: 17:30 GMT |
Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on BBC Radio Wales FM/DAB SE, the BBC Sport website and app. Match report on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Cardiff City have eased fears over the hamstring injury suffered by forward Karlan Grant.
But they will be without Greek defender Dimitrios Goutas for Saturday's FA Cup game at Sheffield Wednesday.
Manager Erol Bulut may also be missing from the third-round tie because of a virus.
Cardiff initially feared Grant's injury was significant, but assistant boss Nicolaos Karydas said: "I can say that it is not serious."
Grant, 26, suffered what was feared to be a hamstring "rupture" in the home defeat by Leicester City on 29 December.
The on-loan West Bromwich Albion player has since had scans on the problem and will be assessed before the FA Cup encounter.
Cardiff assistant Nikolaos Karydas says ill Erol Bulut may surprise him to return FA Cup
But Karydas added: "We try to manage his load from the league games for him to be ready for the next games with us.
"We have some small problems and issues, but we manage it and we go to play at Sheffield with our best starting line-up."
Cardiff will definitely be without Greek international centre-back Goutas following the death of his grandmother.
Goutas was visibly emotional after scoring in Cardiff's New Year's Day win over Queens Park Rangers.
Bulut is looking to recover from a virus in time to take charge of a first FA Cup game in his career.
Karydas said: "Erol is quite ill. I don't know how bad. I am forwarding his greetings and we hope that he will be soon with us again. That's the only information I can give you."
As a result of the busy recent Championship schedule - and with Cardiff sitting placed just three points away from the play-offs - there may be changes at Hillsborough.
"I am a fan of British competitions and I speak for myself to say it's an important competition," Karydas added.
"Each game is important, but all of the games are not of equal value. So tomorrow (Friday) we will decide exactly. The players have come from a long period with games in a row, so we try to manage their tiredness."
Republic of Ireland international Callum O'Dowda and Wales skipper Aaron Ramsey are still making progress on their rehabilitation after injuries, but will not be considered this weekend.