Andrew Davies will use City’s short sunshine break in the Canary Islands to launch his Wembley bid.

The influential centre half has been out for three months with the knee injury he suffered at Burton in the same game that wrote off Luke Oliver’s season.

Davies stepped up his recovery work yesterday with a first outdoor running session and will fly out with the rest of the squad on Sunday for their four-day getaway in Tenerife.

And boss Phil Parkinson has not ruled out the prospect of Davies forcing his way back into first-team contention in time for the Capital One Cup final four weeks on Sunday.

Davies sat in with the away fans at Villa Park before sharing the joy in the dressing room and is desperate to be involved again.

Parkinson said: “Andrew’s back running and next week is important for him. I think to progress it would be very helpful for him to be out there with us.

“Davo’s frustrated because all players want to be out there on the pitch but when you’re injured all you can do is work as hard as you possibly can.

“He’s missed it all (against Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa) but he’s been training like a demon in the gym every day.

“Andrew’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and given himself every chance of getting back and being part of the season.”

Davies was pictured on Twitter being submerged by a group of City fans in a service station on the way to Tuesday’s semi-final. And Parkinson was impressed that the defender had taken the trouble to travel down and support his team-mates.

He added: “Davo was sat with the supporters and then he came in to congratulate the boys afterwards. I thought that was terrific of him but he’s good around the lads and has a great personality.

“Of course he wants to play but equally the first thing he said to me on Tuesday was that he thought Rory (McArdle) and Carl (McHugh) were outstanding, which they were.”

The Tenerife trip was organised after the Arsenal quarter-final and, as well as offering good training facilities in a decent climate, Parkinson hopes it will help make up for having to cancel the players’ Christmas party because of the heavy schedule of games.

He said: “I felt it was a good time to galvanise the team together. We can do some training on a really good surface out there in warm weather.

“We’ll allow the lads to let their hair down when we initially get out there and then really put some good work into their legs. I think it will be hugely beneficial to us at the end of the season.”

Tomorrow’s home game against Wycombe could struggle to go ahead because of the cold snap, with a pitch inspection scheduled for before lunchtime today. The Valley Parade pitch is still under a blanket of snow and the surrounding roads remain iced up.

Gareth Ainsworth’s Wanderers have pulled themselves clear of trouble with seven points from their last nine.

Parkinson saw them beat Dagenham last week and said: “Gareth has turned it round to a certain degree. They are running and fighting for each other.”