Johannes Hoff Thorup is planning for life without Angus Gunn and Marcelino Nunez for the next four Norwich City games.

Thorup admitted at Colney on Friday it would be optimistic to get the key duo back this side of November’s international break.

Gunn is undergoing injections on a side strain issue that has seen him miss the past two league games. Midfielder Nunez lasted 40 minutes at Stoke until a reoccurrence of the hamstring problem that saw him miss out for Chile in the previous international period.

“Gunny, there's an injury to his side and he’s had two injections now,” said the City chief. “It's also about pain, where it's for him to get to a point when he doesn't feel pain any more, and at the moment, he cannot do his reactions without pain, so that's, of course, an issue for him and for us.

"We hope the injections will help it settle quickly, but I think it will be realistic for us to talk about a couple of weeks from this point.

“The same with Nacho, even though, like I said the other day, it was not that severe as we actually thought it was to begin with, but we have to do it a conservative way now, where we make sure that he's fully fit when he gets back with us.

"So it can also be from this point a couple of weeks, and maybe see if we can get him ready before the international break.”

 

George Long and Emi Marcondes deputised for the duo at Preston and will be needed again, starting with Sunday’s home test against Middlesbrough.

“it's a matter for us as coaches to find the right positions and the right movements so we make sure that the players we put on the pitch can really be as comfortable as possible,” said Thorup. “But I think we have a good squad, and I think we have a good competition for a lot of the positions.

"We can expect in the future there will be injuries, there will be suspensions, and we cannot play with the same 11 all the games.

“That's how it is, and also a big part of why it's so important that we keep on developing these young guys so they can take the step. But also, of course, relying on the experienced players, because they have a big role for the team as well. It's a fine balance, but we have to expect that there will be players absent.”

The Dane reported no fresh fitness issues from those on duty at Deepdale in the week. Jacob Sorensen has trained for the past week and was an unusued substitute at Preston. Fellow midfielder, Christian Fassnacht, will rejoin team training from Monday.