Kelvin still on the road to recovery

After a flying start to life under Mark Hughes during the summer, Kelvin Etuhu’s progress has been hampered due to a problematic hamstring injury, but Hughes can now see light at end of the tunnel for the 20-year-old forward.

It was after some pacey pre-season performances that led the Manager to say in August: “He’s a young player that’s still learning his position, but the asset he has got is his pace.

“You ask any full back to face a guy with the pace that Kelvin has, then they are not going to have an enjoyable evening."

Unfortunately for Etuhu he didn't get many more chances to test the opposition and his last appearance to date for the Blues was as a 77th minute substitute at the end of August when West Ham were swept aside by three goals to nil.

And today when asked about Kelvin’s on-going injury, Hughes didn’t put a timescale on his return, but did confirm: “The hamstring has been the issue with him but there’s been an underlying problem that we weren’t aware of that keeps holding him back.

“It’s at the top of the hamstring and might have been there all the time due to his make-up and we’ve treated the side of the hamstring, whereas he’s been compromised by an injury higher up.

“We’ve had to be strict and retrace steps and go back and start again with him which is frustrating really because he’s been out for too long.”