Norwich have been right out of luck as far as injuries are concerned - and I daren’t think what the consequences would be if Borja Sainz had a problem.
You can't replace him, can you? I know there are players who play in his position, but they don't produce the numbers that he's produced.
Angus Gunn being injured was a massive blow and he's taken longer than we expected. And Josh Sargent being out until the new year is also a huge blow because you haven't got anybody to come in and fill that hole he's left.
Sainz is probably THE player of the Championship up to now and you can't afford for him to pick up an injury. You can't afford for him to miss two or three games now, especially in this busy period. This is a chance for City to get back into it – they have fallen away in recent weeks and they've got a chance now with the games that are coming up to steady themselves. They are more than capable of going to The Hawthorns and getting a result but they have to get back to winning ways at Carrow Road on Tuesday against Plymouth.
City are too reliant on Sainz at the minute – but you know what? I love it because he doesn’t mind taking that responsibility. He doesn't wilt under the pressure - I think he accepts it with open arms.
And I think the more the opposition try to get under his skin and wind him up – and teams know they can do that - that's when he steps up a notch.
So if he stays fit – what happens in January? The club have said they have no intention of selling him.
But that won’t stop him being a few teams’ radars. You can't score the amount of goals that he is from a wide position, you can’t score the type of goals he is scoring and you can’t put in the type of performances he is, and keep it quiet.
I’d love to see the list of scouts and recruitment people on the list for a game at Carrow Road.
While the club have made their stance clear, there's a difference in saying that and someone throwing them a tempting bid in.
If I am at a club in the lower half of the Premier League who have struggled to score goals - and there's a few of them there – I’d be looking at him.
The one thing I will say is that he is yet to do it at Premier League level - he’s never had the chance to.
God forbid he would leave in January but if he did – then you’re throwing the towel in really. You’ve accepted mid-table mediocrity, maybe a top-half finish.
If you lose him, you might get money to invest, but you're not going to get another Borja Sainz, especially in January.
We may be talking a value of £30m now, which I don’t think is out of the question – but say in the next 31 games he gets, what, 13 or 14 goals – 25 goals from the left wing. In that case you’d be talking £45m or £50m.
And if you're one of his team-mates and he goes in January, what the effect? I’d be gutted.
I remember when Craig Bellamy went to Coventry - especially for me, because I had struck up such a good partnership with him, very similar to what Sainz has developed with Josh Sargent to a degree.
Me and Craig had a really good relationship on the pitch and it was in its infancy, really. We were only together for a couple of years and we were getting better and better. I think the season that he picked up his knee injury, we were the highest goalscoring pairing in the division, and that was with the likes of Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn at Sunderland. We scored more goals than those two, so had Bellers not suffered that horrendous knee injury at Wolves, I think we'd have had a chance of top six.
And I was gutted. I knew the club couldn't turn the money down – it was about £5m, for a young lad they'd developed themselves. I think he wanted to go, he wanted to play in the Premier League. So I could understand it – we didn’t miss the cocky character in the dressing room who was a bit disruptive, but Craig Bellamy on the pitch, we missed him massively. Because we knew we were never going to get a player of that quality – until Darren Huckerby came in.
If you are Josh Sargent and you see Sainz leaving, you are seeing your own ambitions going out of the window.
If it's me and you're chopping my right arm off, someone taking a bit of the load off me scoring goals which would take the pressure off me performing week in, week out, which I think would make Josh Sargent play better and score more goals - if you're taking him away, I'm thinking, ‘where's my contract?’.
It would show a lack of ambition – I am talking hypothetically and I hope that he's here for at least the whole of this season, but if Josh Sargent wants to progress as a player he's going to have a better chance of doing it with Sainz in the team.
If the lads are going to get back to winning ways and climb back up the league, get in around that top six, they need to keep him, simple as that.
Stat attack
I have some eye-catching statistics for you ahead of City’s trip to West Brom this weekend…
Norwich haven’t lost four in a row in the league for over 12 months
It’s nearly for years since they failed to score in three consecutive regular season games – going back to the beginning of 2021
West Brom have not lost in their last seven, but have drawn six of their last seven
They’ve won one point from their last four home games – and they haven't scored in those four games
They have the fifth worst home record, the worst attacking record at home – where they have scored just two goals in seven games
But they have the best defensive record at home, conceding just one, against Middlesbrough
Their last three home games have ended 0-0
Five of their last eight at home have ended goalless
Between them, West Brom and Norwich have played 30 games and 13 of them have been draws
Norwich are third top scorers behind Sunderland and Leeds – and have the joint sixth worst defensive record, with one clean sheet in their last eight
Norwich have no wins in six, one win in their last eight, eight points from their eight away games
Those statistics point to a low scoring draw and I don't think a point at The Hawthorns is the worst. They're in a bad run of home form - if it were half decent they’d be running away with it.
I've played at The Hawthorns many times, it's a great stadium to go to. They love the manager, Carlos Corberan, but in the run they are in, I don't think it'll take a lot for the home fans to turn against their team because of this run of form at home - two goals in seven games...
If Norwich can keep it tight for 15, 20, 25 minutes, see that first part of the game out and then and then hopefully build on that, keep them quiet the West Brom faithful I think will show a little bit of frustration and start venting their disappointment at how their team is playing.
Head to head
The Championship’s top two scorers will go head to head at The Hawthorns this weekend.
West Brom’s Josh Maja has nine goals from his 15 games, while Borja Sainz tops the scoring charts with 11 for City.
Maja scored a hat-trick on the opening day – a 3-1 win at QPR. He had four goals in his first three games so he has got five in his last 12.
He’s a natural centre forward, unlike Sainz, and he’s not in the same sort of form as the Norwich man.
I remember Maja when he was at Sunderland. He went to Bordeaux and it didn't quite work out for him.
He's quite a good specimen, he’s quite physical, he's got good pace, decent movement - but if you were to tell me I’d got a choice of one of the two, I know which one I'd be taking – Sainz, 100pc, all day long.
He just looks dangerous, he's got that hunger and desire.
At the minute he's in the form of his life and hopefully that will continue.
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