Abraham Given Extended Time Off

The on-loan Chelsea forward featured for England Under-19s at the European Championships in July before arriving at City at the beginning of August.

Abraham, who has five goals to his name this season, limped out of City's 3-1 win over Aston Villa with an ankle problem and was forced to withdraw from the England Under-20s squad.

“I gave him 11 days off because he’s a kid who has had 80 games on the spin,” Johnson said on BBC Radio Bristol’s Sound of the City.

“He’s gone from playing Chelsea youth football all the way to the end of the season, straight into an international tournament, straight into pre-season and he hasn’t had any more than four days off in the past three years.”

He added: “He’s been just non-stop football for three years.

"He loves football and even Sunday I rang him and he was in the garden playing one-on-one with his brother! I was like ‘Get in! You’re supposed to be resting!’.

"He’s had his little niggle, and we thought it would be a good time to let him heal and give him a little bit of a mental rest because he’s going to be an important player for us.

"If he can come back sharp and refreshed mentally, we might get another three or four per cent out of him."