Birmingham City manager Garry Monk has revealed they will be without Spanish winger Jota for this weekend's clash with Preston North End, report the club's official Twitter account. 

The 27-year-old limped off early on in the club's 3-3 draw with Hull City and there were hopes he would return in time for the match with Alex Neil's side, but that will not be the case.

"Jota will just miss out this weekend which is a shame for us," Monk revealed.

"He is an important player for us.

"We feel he will be ready to train next week as normal, tomorrow's game comes a little too soon."

So far this season, the Spaniard has racked up one goal and five assists and a total of six goals and seven assists since arriving at the club.

Birmingham returned to winning ways on Wednesday night with a 2-0 win against Millwall at the Den, bouncing back impressively after a 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend.

The win was the club's first in three matches and reignited hopes of a playoff push, lifting them up into 10th place on 27 points, just four outside the top-six.

Monk's side have been in impressive form this season, losing just four times all season and going on a 10 game unbeaten run that previously saw them break into the playoffs before the recent run of poor form.

The verdict 

This is obviously a blow for the club, but it probably comes at a good time.

If Jota had to miss two games, Millwall and Preston will have been pretty high on the club's list. They showed on Tuesday that they can cope without him and there is no reason why they can't do so again.