Zimbo tipped to soften Gibson injury blow

Daniel Farke would happily settle for a repeat of Christoph Zimmermann’s last start for Norwich City. 

The German centre back is ready to step in for Ben Gibson, who Farke ruled out for the next two weeks on Tuesday after suffering a calf strain. 

Zimmermann has had to bide his time following his own return to fitness, with Gibson and captain Grant Hanley forging a sturdy partnership at the heart of the Canaries’ backline. 

“The responsibility now is for others to shine. I trust my players. It is pretty likely there is a bit more work for Christoph,” said Farke. “He looked so sharp in training and it was one of the toughest decisions to leave him out in these last games. The last game he started (Swansea) we had a clean sheet.  

“Ben being left sided is a miss but I trust Christoph. Ben had a hit on his toe, which is possibly broken, but it was painful for him and maybe he compensated a bit with his body position and picked up this calf strain.

"!Now he has some time for the calf and the toe. We have scanned him and he will be out for two weeks. We have Alex Tettey who can play centre back, Andrew (Ombaamidele) as well.

"We are not in crisis mode. We didn’t think we would go further on without any more defensive injuries. ”