Daniel Farke put a brave face to a gloomy injury bulletin at Colney this afternoon ahead of Norwich City’s return to Championship action against Hull City.


The headline news was that combative midfielder Alex Tettey is set to miss at least a month through a calf injury and winger Josh Murphy has broken a toe and will miss the Hull clash at Carrow Road.

Otherwise, striker Nelson Oliveira and left-back Marco Stiepermann are still not fully fit after groin issues but should be okay to feature among the substitutes.

“We have bad news on Alex Tettey, he was injured during training, there was a one-against-one duel in training, he got a hit against his calf and sadly his muscle reacts,” Farke explained.

“It’s a little bit complicated to explain but there is some blood in the muscle that means it’s a little bit unpredictable how long we have to do without him but it’s at least four weeks, if it gets really worse we have to do without him for the next two months.

“So that means at least he can’t return before the next international break, so that’s really bad news, but it is like it is and sometimes this happens on a football pitch when there are some duels and we have to find solutions and handle it.

“It’s really sad for us, really sad for Alex, because he was in a really good shape for our squad.”

The two-week international break has allowed midfielder Mario Vrancic to find fitness, having returned as an unused substitute alongside Oliveira in the 2-1 win at Reading as City stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches.

“Mario Vrancic is back so really good news because he was in really good shape in the Brentford game, he scored twice and then had this injury against Bristol City and we had to do without him in the next games,” City’s German boss continued with his lengthy injury update.

“But he is totally fit again and was able to train the last 10 days with us, he is available, that is really good.

“We have some little improvements, on the one hand, with Nelson Oliveira. In the first eight days he had some treatments, was recreating and then he was training with us for the first time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday he did some individual stuff and then today he was able to train together with us.

“He’s not back 100 percent but at least a little improvement so he will be with us but he is not ready for 90 minutes. Hopefully I will have him back for the two games away at Ipswich and Arsenal.

“He can at least be on the bench and come in for 15 or 20 minutes, which is an improvement because in the Reading game at half-time he said to me ‘coach, I feel bad after the warm-ups’ so we had to do completely without.

“There’s a little improvements with Marco Stiepermann because he had problems with his groin and he just started on Wednesday, he was able to do half of the programme together with us and today he was able to train with us without any pain.

“So a little bit the same as Nelson, he will be with us but is not able to be in the starting line-up, perhaps 15 or 20 minutes as well and hopefully he will be back next weekend too.”

With club captain Russell Martin due to continue his comeback from a strain to an abductor muscle with the under-23s on Sunday, against West Brom at Carrow Road (2pm kick-off) and Marley Watkins suspended for three games after being sent off at Reading, Farke has plenty to contend with.

“All the other things are bad news as well, where should I start? We have to do, further on, without Matt Jarvis, Jamal Lewis and Alex Pritchard, we have to do without Steven Naimsith who is unavailable, without Marley Watkins.

“His injury with the (Wales) national squad was not too bad so he’s been able to train with us but he’s banned so we have to do without him.

“We have to do without Josh Murphy because he broke his toe in the last game. It sounds a little bit dramatic but it is not too bad because there is no need for an operation or anything like that.

“We brought him back on the pitch today with some tablets and some stabilising on his toe but it was too painful, so hopefully he can return with the other two guys next week but tomorrow he is not available at all.”

Hull are due to arrive in Norfolk in good spirits after bringing an end to a run of five matches without a win by thrashing Birmingham 6-1 ahead of the break.