Manchester City loanee close to making long-awaited return for Cobblers
Kevin Nolan is hopeful that he has no fresh injuries as Cobblers travel down to the capital to face Leyton Orient this weekend.
And the Town boss could have a returning face in his squad in the form of Manchester City loanee Luke Mbete, who’s close to returning from five months out after sustaining a serious hamstring injury against Bolton in October.
"Everyone came through Tuesday fine but we’ll see how things go over the next 48 hours,” said Nolan. “There’s a lot of tired legs and we’ve had a lot of games so we just need to take it day by day and I’ll know a bit more on Friday but, at this moment, everyone from Tuesday is fit and available.
"Luke’s been out for a long time so we’re building him up, like we did with Ali (Koiki), and we’re not going to force him in. He’s been out for a while and our physio’s are working closely with Man City to make sure he gets to a place where he’s comfortable to come in and play games.
"He’s working really hard and I’m hoping, if not Saturday, then certainly next week he will be part of our squad.”
Nolan admits he may have to consider freshening things up again this weekend due to the sheer number of games his squad have played recently.
He added: "It's something we need to think about. We have to look after some of the boys because they've played a lot of minutes and put in a lot of hard work. Can they go again or do we make changes? We'll see how things look in the next couple of days."