Norwich City welcome Nottingham Forest to Carrow Road on Tuesday night and welcome back two defensive reinforcements.
Timm Klose missed the draw with Bolton with a hamstring strain but has recovered, having missed only that game after Saturday`s game at Barnsley was postponed.
Ivo Pinto meanwhile, hasn`t played since he scored against Sheffield United in early January with a self inflicted injury that he suffered while getting out of his car.
Both men are fit though and raring to go according to Daniel Farke who spoke with the media at Colney on Monday lunchtime at his usual pre-match press conference.
One player who may miss out though is Christoph Zimmermann, who has missed a bit of training lately due to personal reasons. He`s missed four training sessions but did train on Monday.
There`s also positive news for Matt Jarvis as his latest comeback gathers pace. He is pencilled in to train with the U23s and is set to play in the U23s match against Fulham on Wednesday evening at Carrow Road.
Matt obviously needs gametime after so much time out but that will have to be managed carefully if he is to return to full fitness and play some part in the first team squad.
There`s also good news about Tom Trybull, whose recovery continues and Farke suggests that the tenacious midfielder could be back after the international break for the last four or five games of the season.
Marcus Edwards has “improved a lot” according to Farke and isn`t far away from being an option for the first team.
However, Marco Stiepermann had a hernia operation last week and will miss several weeks.
You can follow all of today`s press conference at Canaries.co.uk or on Twitter @NorwichCityFC
Getting on to the game itself, Forest have had an up and down season and had flirted with relegation before Aitor Karanka was appointed manager.
They have scored eight times in their last three games and have now pulled themselves clear of any unpleasantness at the bottom of the league.
Eric Lichaj is available again after suspension and Daryl Murphy was a second half substitute in Saturday`s win over Birmingham so could be ready to reacquaint himself with Timm Klose.
When Klose first played in an East Anglian derby he was up against Murphy, just before he moved to Newcastle and it left a clear impression on him that he spoke about earlier this season. It was a watershed moment for Timm as he first faced the physicality of the Championship and I think it`s fair to say that he has stepped up since then.
Having switched to a back four against Bolton, when Klose was unavailable, I would be surprised if Farke doesn`t move back to a back three, assuming Zimmermann is fit enough.
He probably will be and with their recent goal scoring exploits, a tight defence will be essential against Forest.
As ever, the big issue for Norwich will be goal scoring which has been a “topic” all season. Fingers crossed that can be solved sooner rather than later.
OTBC
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