Wagner has plotted previous away wins at QPR and Bristol City in the competition, but a growing injury list and a third league defeat in four – culminating in a 6-2 mauling at Plymouth – must now tip the balance with Birmingham City at Carrow Road on league business this coming weekend.
Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent have been ruled out with injury for months, while Grant Hanley is yet to kick a ball this season and fellow centre back Danny Batth is cup tied for Wednesday’s third round trip to west London, after featuring for former club Sunderland in the competition.
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“Yes the league is a priority. But in the first two rounds, we made our changes as well. Maybe this time it will be more faces,” said the City chief. “But at the end of the day, this doesn’t mean that we will go to Fulham and we don’t want to be competitive, or as good as we can. But yes, it’s a truth that we will make changes (at Craven Cottage).
“Everybody knows that we have some injury problems at the minute. We missed five senior players (at Plymouth) with Barnes, Sarge, Grant, Lunghi (Jacob Sorensen) and Nacho (Marcelino Nunez). Danny is cup tied.
“This means we are not quite strong on numbers at the minute. Obviously we will make changes. It can happen that one or two will get a first team debut as well. But this is the nature of this part of the season with so many games, and if you have obviously some injury problems, which we have, then you have to make sure you manage the workload as good as you can.”
Borja Sainz’s senior debut could offer a silver lining. The Spanish winger injured his ankle in pre-season shortly after his summer arrival, but has had two recent development outings.
“He is in my plans as well that he gets some minutes, after the first two 45 minutes which he got now in the under-21s,” confirmed Wagner. “We have to how he recovers, of course, because he played two games in four days and this will be the third one, but I think he will be in the squad and if everything goes to plan he will get some minutes as well.”
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