Norwich City face Fulham this Saturday in the 3rd round of the FA Cup at Carrow Road, 3pm ko.
At his Thursday press conference, manager Chris Hughton spoke about his squad for the game and the fact that he will rotate the squad, but not too much.
Leroy Fer, will of course be suspended after being sent off against Crystal Palace for two bookable offences and will miss this game as a result. If he has to miss a game then this is as good as any, however, it does leave the squad short of central midfield players, what with Alex Tettey and Johnny Howson both injured. Hughton also confirmed that Michael Turner will miss out due to his hamstring strain, which is still being assessed.
Interestingly, David Fox is back from his loan spell at Barnsley and is available but didn’t play the last five games there, so fitness may be an issue. But I think we’d all like to see Foxy back and get a game – a neat passing midfielder, now there’s a thought.
Howson’s injury is still described as ‘ not serious’ but there is no timescale as yet on when he’ll be back. The good news though, is that Alex Tettey will start light training next week and Anthony Pilkington isn’t far behind.
One player that will definitely play against Fulham though, is record signing, Ricky van Wolfswinkel. After missing eight games with a muscular toe injury, Ricky is back fit and raring to go.
“We will certainly use the squad but that is more a necessity with the ones we have out,” said Hughton. “I still have to pick the team and it might be a late one because we have one or two knocks that we also have to assess but Ricky will certainly play. He has come on in the last few games and he would have done so at Crystal Palace but Leroy got sent off at that moment late in the game. He has had an introduction, if not starting, since the injury so the call to start him on Saturday is the ideal one.
“We miss Leroy (Fer) as well as Michael and Jonny so it is an opportunity to use the squad but with the main objective of ensuring we go through.”
After a poor performance and ultimately a loss against Fulham on Boxing Day, I figure we owe them one. Let’s hope RvW can show his worth.
OTBC
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