Birmingham City Football Club News

• Nickname:Blues
• Founded:1875
• Manager:Chris Hughton

• Ground:St Andrew's
• Capacity:30,016

Blues suffer Johnson blow

07 Aug 2007 - 12:33:04

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Birmingham City have been dealt a blow just before the start of the new season after it was confirmed that Damien Johnson has suffered a hamstring injury.

The 28-year-old picked up the problem in last month's pre-season friendly against Walsall.

Blues boss Steve Bruce estimates that Johnson will be sidelined until 18 August.

That means he will miss Sunday's clash against Chelsea and next Wednesday's Premier League encounter with Sunderland at St Andrew's.

Johnson and Maik Taylor have been called up by Northern Ireland for this month's Euro 2008 qualifier against Liechtenstein, but Bruce fears the midfielder may have to miss that game as well.

He told the cub's official website: "Jonty has a grade one tear of his hamstring and will be out for a total of around 21 days from the time he did the injury at Walsall."