Injury blows for Brentford’s Djuricin and MacLeod

Djuricin

Brentford could be without striker Marco Djuricin for two months while Lewis MacLeod has suffered a further setback in his recovery from injury.

Djuricin was taken off just 23 minutes into the 1-1 draw at Blackburn last Saturday after injuring his ankle in a heavy tackle.

Scans showed the on-loan Red Bull Salzburg forward, who has scored four goals in 12 appearances for the Bees this season, suffered ligament damage.

He won’t require surgery but Brentford’s medical staff estimate the average recovery time to be around eight weeks.

MacLeod is yet to make his debut for the Bees after a £1m move from Rangers in January, following a series of niggling injuries.

He had been building up his match fitness in Under-21 matches but last Friday picked up another hamstring strain.

Brentford have said, given his injury history, his recovery will be managed carefully over the next month.

There is good news for Josh McEachran (broken foot), Jota (ankle) and Maxime Colin (knee ligament) .

McEachran, who suffered his injury shortly after signing from Chelsea in pre-season, is fit enough to play in a behind closed doors friendly with AFC Bournemouth on Friday.

Winger Jota and full-back Colin are set to return to action by the end of the month.

Defender Andreas Bjelland, who sustained a serious knee injury, has seen a specialist this week, while Scott Hogan, who has been out for 15 months, continued his rehabilitation with a conditioning camp in Philadelphia last month.

No timescale has been set for either player’s return.