Gardner making swift progress

Published Nov. 25, 2010 1:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

Gardner missed City's shock 1-0 home success over Chelsea last weekend with an ankle problem. But it was the recurrence of a previous injury rather than a new setback and McLeish expects him to be back available sooner rather than later. McLeish said: "The good news is that it wasn't a fresh injury. "It was an old injury which has changed the medical people's minds about the extent of the injury and how long he would be out. "At first we thought it could have been a couple of months, maybe three months. "But it is not as bad as we first thought. Craig has improved this week. "He has not joined the group yet but, in the not-too-distant future, we expect him to be back training with us." Gardner is City's leading scorer this season with four goals and it remains to be seen whether he could be fit to face his former club Aston Villa in next week's Carling Cup quarter-final. McLeish has also received encouraging news about number two goalkeeper Maik Taylor who could be back on the bench for the Villa clash. With Colin Doyle cup-tied, McLeish would have Ben Foster as his only fit senior goalkeeper to face Villa if Taylor was still sidelined. McLeish said: "We think Maik will be OK for the Villa game. We don't know for sure - but we're trying to push him for that one."