Bristol City manager Gary Johnson is close to being able to pick from a full-strength and fully-fit squad on Saturday, writes Andy Stockhausen.

The Robins have been beset by injuries since before the Championship campaign kicked off in August and the absence of key players has contributed significantly to a record of one win in eight games which has seen last season's play-off finalists drop to 13th in the table.

But those problems are now receding and assistant manager Keith Millen says the squad is already benefiting from the two-week break for international matches.

Star players such as Marvin Elliott, Jamie McCombe and Cole Skuse have now recovered from injury, while the likes of Lee Trundle, David Noble and Gavin Williams are ready to play a full part after featuring only infrequently.

And a much-improved bill of health means manager Johnson will almost certainly be in a position to field his starting line-up of choice when Norwich come calling at Ashton Gate this weekend.

"This break has come at exactly the right time for us," reflected Millen. "When you're going well, you want to keep playing and winning, but we've had a few problems and we needed time in which to assess our situation.

"What that has done is given those players with injuries time to recover and to work on their fitness, while also allowing those lads on the fringes of the first team to get themselves match fit."

City staged a behind-closed-doors friendly at Swindon Town last week and are expected to field a strong reserve side in this afternoon's Totesport.com Combination fixture against Salisbury at Ashton Gate (2pm).

And Millen is confident that, injured striker Steve Brooker (Achilles) apart, City will be at full strength and ready to fire on all cylinders when they face the Canaries.

He revealed: "It's something we haven't had so far this season. We've usually had players missing or lads playing with knocks and not fully fit.

"You simply can't afford to carry even one or two players in the Championship. It's such a strong league, you get found out.

"But that situation is looking a lot better now and just about everyone will be available for the Norwich game.

"One of the reasons we did so well last season was because we avoided injuries and we're getting back to that same state of affairs now."

City's players returned to training yesterday after being given a rare weekend off and Millen insisted hard work was the only remedy for the Robins' recent poor results.

He said: "It's at times like this that we go back to the things that have stood us in such good stead in the past. There really is no substitute for hard work and the boys will have a couple of tough sessions before we take a closer look at Norwich on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Working hard is the best way to regain confidence and full fitness and, hopefully, we'll hit the ground running against Norwich," added Bristol City's assistant manager.