No injury concerns for Dons ahead of Wigan opener

While Peter Pawlett and Ethan Ebanks-Landell missed out on the Leicester City friendly last Friday, the Dons boss will have them at his disposal ahead of the League 1 curtain raiser at Stadium MK this weekend.

And with only Chuks Aneke in the treatment room, Neilson feels it has been a successful pre-season campaign.

“It has been good, but it is all about getting to the majority of the squad and being as fit as you can be,” he said.

“We’ve got most of the squad back in training. There are a few of them coming back later in the week so by the start we should have them all in apart from Chuks. 

“We’ve been pushing them hard - there’s a balance between pushing them hard and getting your best team out on the opening day.”

While not injured, Joe Walsh will miss out on the opening day clash with Wigan, still carrying a suspension from last season after accruing 15 bookings last term.

But Neilson feels he has plenty of cover for the Welsh international - including a fit-again Scott Wootton, who the Scot believes will play a key role for Dons this season.

He said: “We’ve got options in there. We’ve got Scott Wootton in there, Paul Downing, Lewington can shift in there. Ebanks-Landell has come in and been fantastic too.

“Scott has played a lot of pre-season games, he looks really good. We need to be careful with him, but he’s a leader and he will be one of our top players this season.”