Norwich City v Stoke City: David Wagner's pre-match preview

Much of the last two days will have involved David Wagner picking through the wreckage of Wednesday night's disappointing draw with struggling Huddersfield and trying to conjure up a team capable of competing with Alex Neil's men. 

With many walking wounded and others ruled out entirely, Wagner has been forced to draft in extra resource through the club's U21s, with the likes of Jaden Warner, Brad Hills, Ben Watt and Flynn Clarke joining City's northern base amid fitness concerns. 

This spate of injuries has come at a poor time for the Canaries - with games running out and the gap to the play-offs having extended to four points in midweek. 

Arguably, the international break that awaits City after this weekend may now be an opportunity to rest bodies and provide time for others to get back up to match sharpness but the bigger question is what will the health of their Championship play-off push look like? 

For all the talk about injuries and adversities, there will be little sympathy if Norwich fail to at least produce a performance at a point in the season where points are needed. 

In Stoke, they are facing one of the Championship's most in-form sides given they made light work of Sunderland, who came to Carrow Road a week later and recorded a dogged 1-0 victory, play-off chasing Blackburn and should have beaten Middlesbrough on Tuesday. 

Neil will be looking to copy the Tony Mowbray handbook of high-pressing given City's struggles against that strategy in recent weeks. In truth, Wagner has bigger concerns to worry about in the lead up to this contest. 

For City's head coach and his thin squad, there is little time to assess their opponents or even to take stock and he has challenged those available to seize the opportunity that will be afforded to them. 

"In this period where you have three games in six days or two games in four days, you will need everyone.

"This I knew beforehand but I didn't know that we would lose Onel (Hernandez) or Jonny Rowe on Monday and obviously then three further players on Wednesday. We need to make sure we have fresh legs on the grass and to do this you will need everybody and use everybody.

"This is now maybe a little bit different - some of those who you wanted or needed to give a rest, you cannot do but maybe they can recover very well and stay healthy." 

Norwich City have a cocktail of unwelcome circumstances to navigate against Stoke. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

As well as injuries, Norwich are also contending with a short turnaround in matches having only played on Wednesday evening. 

Instead of following their conventional routine of travelling back to Norfolk, City's squad have remained in the north at a hotel near Leeds to complete their recovery and preparation before facing Stoke. 

"The group is together. We don't have to go away to create this togetherness; this is what the group already has," Wagner said.

"I would prefer not to have this period and to have more days to recover in between but we thought it was the best solution.

"We found a hotel that has everything that we will need. What we don't have there we were able to carry up north. We will have everything to make sure the players can train and recover as well as possible.

"The only problem is that I don't know how many players I will have to train. We will find solutions and we will move on." 

Against the backdrop of the numerous hurdles City have to clear in order to leave the Bet365 Stadium is the fact many feel they require a result after setbacks against Sunderland and Huddersfield in the last week. 

Throw in the fact that Neil will be eager to get one over on his old employers coupled with his mission for acceptance in Staffordshire and this will represent another test of City's play-off credentials. 

Since that victory against Millwall a fortnight ago, they have struggled to produce a high level of performance and have squandered the chance to consolidate their place in the top six. 

Victory at Stoke would help shift the narrative and wrestle back some of the lost momentum.

City's boss is acutely aware of how quickly the state of play can change in this division, that is his objective this weekend. 

Norwich City will need to show plenty of fight at in-form Stoke City today. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

"First and foremost, it is all about us. It would be better and more helpful if we had a lot of healthy players in a situation like this," Wagner said, "but it isn't the case, and it doesn't mean that you can't find an idea or solution to make sure you perform at a very good level.

"That is what we are asking ourselves and what we will try to do on Saturday. We will be there and try to do our best."