Kieran Dowell’s knee injury is a hammer blow but David Wagner is confident Norwich City will cope without the midfielder.

Dowell has been ruled out until ‘the second part of April’ after stretching ligaments in an early shot saved by John Ruddy, in the midweek 3-1 Championship win over Birmingham.

The attacking midfielder played on until he was substituted in the 87th minute, but scans the following day diagnosed the damage.

Wagner did confirm at Colney on Friday morning, ahead of Cardiff City’s weekend visit, that Dowell, who is out of contract this summer, does not require surgery.

“I don't think we have to discuss Kieran’s contract situation now. It's all about the energy for him to get healthy as soon as possible,” said the City chief. “And we will support it. Anything else will come for sure after that.

“He doesn't need surgery, but this will take time. He stretched his ligament and this means he will be out until the second part of April. We have to concede this is a setback for us, but we wish him all the best, and support him that he comes back on the level which he has shown.

“I think he has done great since I came in. Even if he had some games where he wasn't on his best level, overall, I think he performed very well. He scored four goals, gave assists, he was a threat offensively and adapted very well to our idea of football.

"He is a good guy. But now, as I said he will be on the sidelines for a longer period of time.”

Forward duo Josh Sargent and Teemu Pukki have both been sidelined for recent games, but Wagner believes he has solutions in his squad.  

“We had this issue before and the players reacted very well. We are focused on the healthy players,” he said. “Everybody who stepped in so far has shown this, which is why it is important we get across the message if you are starting or not make sure that you perform on your highest level.

“We will miss him, like we miss Josh and like we missed Teemu. But even if we miss them, I think everybody has done a fantastic job in the last few games. We have to move on and make sure that we don't get carried away by this injury news, which we have to deal with. We have to be focused on Cardiff.

“It happened very early, I think after five minutes where he had this block in the box. He made a great movement, good feet and then a great chance on the near post to finish with his right and the keeper saved. I was quite surprised when I heard after the game it looks that he has a problem with his knee.

“Then we got him scanned and it was diagnosed the day after - which shows what you can do as a footballer with adrenaline. He played something like 85 minutes without a big issue. Injury wise it wasn't the best period in the last games, but we go forward.”