Town boss Kieran McKenna says Jaden Philogene trained with the squad today and a decision will be made on whether the forward will be involved at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, while Azor Matusiwa and a number of other players will be assessed ahead of the trip to Hillsborough.

Philogene has been out of action since the Blackburn game on January 17th when he suffered an MCL injury which he was close to returning from towards the end of last month before bening hampered by a minor setback.

Matusiwa was subbed at Stoke City on Tuesday with a hamstring injury with McKenna having said afterwards that the Dutchman, who has started all but one of Town’s games this season, could be a doubt for Saturday.

“Probably to be assessed over the next couple of days,” McKenna said when asked about the duo. “Jaden’s done some training with the group today, which was good, so we’ll have to make a decision there about Saturday and whether there’s any involvement or whether he needs more time on the training pitch.

“Azor and a few others are still being assessed. It’s still not even 48 hours after the game, so we’re still not certain where we are with a couple of those.”

Ashley Young remains sidelined with a hip injury and won’t return before the international break.

Also out for Saturday and the visit by third-placed Millwall next weekend is Marcelino Nunez, who suffered a hamstring problem against Leicester last Saturday.

“It would be very difficult for him to make it back before the international break,” McKenna said. “But we’ve got two weeks and a couple of days after that with no games, so I think we would be really disappointed if we didn’t see him by that point.”

Nunez appeared to feel his hamstring for the first time in the 17th minute against the Foxes but wasn’t replaced until the 85th and McKenna was asked whether in hindsight the Chilean, who seems certain to also miss his national side’s friendlies in New Zealand against Cape Verde and the All Whites, might have been withdrawn earlier.

“There’s nothing much to say on it,” McKenna said. “He received a kick on his ankle and felt a little spasm down the back of his leg which wasn’t really very much, didn’t report anything at half-time or during the game and was fine to continue.

“He wasn’t even taken off because of the hamstring issue, he was taken off just for freshness and to make a change at the end of the game.

“Sometimes as a professional, you don’t necessarily feel the extent of something when you’re on the pitch, it depends completely on which part of the hamstring it is, what type of issue it is and he felt very, very little on the pitch or else, of course, he wouldn’t have continued or we wouldn’t have had him continue.

“It wasn’t until the next day that he felt a little bit more sore, so we needed to look into it a little bit more fully.”

Regarding Wes Burns, who started two games in four games for the first time following his lengthy absence due to an ACL injury, McKenna says that was a big plus from the Leicester and Stoke draws.

“He’s come through it well, that’s a real good positive,” the Blues manager continued. “He felt ready to take that step up. Of course, he’s not doing 90 minutes anyway, so his load on Saturday-Tuesday is tending to be somewhere between 60 and 70 minutes at the moment.

“But still, it’s another good step to be able to do that on a Saturday and then again on a Tuesday, and he came through it well. That’s a big positive for him and a positive for us.”

Town will be without Cedric Kipre at Hillsborough and against Millwall, the Ivorian having taken his yellow cards tally to 10 against the Potters.

Photo: MI News via Reuters Connect