Head coach Philippe Clement has confirmed that Jovon Makama will still require further assessment ahead of the club's first fixture of 2026.
Speaking during his New Year's Eve press conference, the Belgian indicated that the striker, left out of the starting XI to face Watford due to injury, also had some illness since that defeat.
"He was a little bit sick after the game, we will need to assess if he'll have full power tomorrow," Clement explained.
"I will never take risks with players in any situation but football is also a tough sport, sometimes you need to play with pain and knocks, when you don't feel 100 per cent. I've done it in the past a few times. There's a few there playing with knocks and playing really well."
On the subject of Emiliano Marcondes and Jakov Medić, Clement says their absence was a selection call as part of the schedule management.
He further outlined examples of players who have been rotated over the past couple of weeks during the busy Christmas period.
"Selection for that moment. It doesn't mean for the next moment that it will be like that. I'd love to have 22 players in the squad, it would be more logical. It's already changed that there are more than three substitutions and more players on the bench.
"With the amount of games that we have, it's impossible to keep going with the same starting 11.
"In general, it's been good. The recovery after games has been quite good. In five/six weeks, several players are recovering much better than one month ago. We're not where the squad wants to be but we're in the right direction."
Kellen Fisher has stood out at right-back since Clement's arrival in November, playing every minute in December.
Clement spoke of how happy he is to have such strong competition for that position with Jack Stacey now also back in the fold after injury.
"In the beginning when I came in, Jack Stacey was doing really good things in that position. He's also now available again, it's great to have two good players there. Kellen is someone who plays with a big heart and makes good decisions for the football that we want to play. For the moment, there's still some room to make him better but he's playing very well," he added.
"Kellen is taking really good steps in recognising situations and his communication with people. They are different profiles, their strengths are in different ways. They will both get game minutes once they perform on the pitch."
With the transfer window opening for business on January first, Clement was also questioned on areas that he may look to improve the squad.
The Belgian indicated that creativity in the final third is one area of interest.
"I won't go into detail about positions because I don't want people in the club with their back to the wall. It's clear we need to get some creativity in the final third, we saw that in the last game and everybody is alerted to that.
"For me, it's about quality. I would prefer somebody who is 12 years old and an incredible player, that's an exaggeration of course, to someone who is 37 and has done everything but is no longer fit enough.
"It's the January window, it's a difficult one. There's no club in the world who wants to lose their good players. We'll have to see.
"In the past, the manager would find all the players himself, maybe 30/40 years ago. There was less preparation and video for games, maybe go and watch players, but these days there is no time for that, so we have teams in the club who do that.
"The recruitment team will give me a list of names that they have identified in a position we need and I will them my preferred name or say the names that I don't think would be good enough for our squad."
Lastly, he addressed tomorrow's opponents QPR, who come into this fixture on the back of a defeat but still high in the form table.
City defeated Julien Stéphan's side 3-1 in late November thanks to goals from Marcondes, Amankwah Forson and an own goal.
"I never expect a similar game because that means nobody on either side learned from the last game. We'll tweak things we don't want to do the same against them. It'll be chess between the two teams, there's certain details they will want to do differently," Clement said.
"You guys said we were lucky with three home games in this period but when you look at the form, it's a challenging period. The team took on the challenge and it was a pity we didn't get the win against Watford. It's our challenge to now start some more good results.
"If we can compete with them, match their level in every sense of the game, the points will follow along the road. If everybody keeps working like they have, the levels will rise in this club and the points will follow."