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FARKE: City boss on why he is taking no chances with Pukki and Tettey
Teemu Pukki netted a penalty in a 2-1 Premier League defeat at Tottenham Picture: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
Teemu Pukki and Alex Tettey will not feature at Tottenham in the FA Cup if there is a risk they miss Saturday’s Premier League test at Sheffield United.
Daniel Farke revealed at Colney on Tuesday both are major doubts for the fifth round tie after sitting out training with flu.
Christoph Zimmermann, Sam Byram, Onel Hernandez and Timm Klose are all sidelined at present, and Farke is ready to protect his key duo.
"It is a pretty quick turnaround from this game to Sheffield United. We will arrive back in Norwich pretty late in the night, probably early hours of Thursday morning, and then more or less two days later we have another important game at Sheffield United," he said.
"We want to be successful in the league, but right now we are fully focused on Tottenham because we want to go to the next round. We will go all in to achieve this, but we won't risk anything for Saturday.
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"If we think by playing either Alex or Teemu they have a setback we won't risk them. We won't do that so that is why we need to make a late decision. We will take advice from the physios and the doctors.
"But we want a strong starting line up at Tottenham because if we play with the under 23 team we have no chance to go into the next round. It is a fine balance. We are already without other players for this Saturday."
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Farke downplayed the severity of the flu symptoms in the City camp, given the global backdrop around the coronavirus threat.
"Just a cold, a bit of a temperature, nothing with Coronavirus or anything like that," he said. "That is not so much my topic but we trust our medical team. They inform the players nearly every day. Of course you have to be careful around something like this. We are quite relaxed but we know what to do and how to prepare ourselves. We trust our specialists and we feel we are in good hands.
"They were not able to train on Monday due to illness. Not a big topic. We have to wait how it develops over the next 24 hours but there must be a question mark for Tottenham. I would say maybe a 50, 50 chance. They felt a bit better on Tuesday but we have to wait to see how the body reacts."
Christoph Zimmermann is a bigger concern for the Norwich boss with the centre back now poised to visit a specialist after further tests on a muscular problem.
"He is still not able to train with us. A bit concerned for Sheffield United at the weekend. A little setback.
"It seems the muscle strain is alright but he has some problems in his tendon area. We had another scan on Monday evening and he has to see a specialist. It is tricky to assess it. Not good news for us."
