Nolan hints at changes for Bolton Wanderers visit due to 'niggles' in his squad
Kevin Nolan has suggested he could be forced into making one or two alterations to his starting line-up when Bolton Wanderers visit this weekend due to ‘niggles’ within his squad.
Cobblers made only one change between their last two league games when Jordan Thorniley replaced the injured Nesta Guinness-Walker at Wycombe, and Nolan is set to revert to a similar starting XI after making nine changes for Tuesday’s EFL Trophy tie.
However, Guinness-Walker could again miss out while Kyle Edwards, Elliott List and Tom Eaves are all injured, in addition to Jon Guthrie and Liam Shaw, and there are also doubts over one or two others ahead of Bolton’s visit to Sixfields.
Nolan said: "There are some other niggles here and there within the squad but the good thing about the group we have and how we built it is that we can take people out and put others in when needed. We don’t want to risk anyone and potentially lose them for four, five, six weeks.
"If we have to sit them out for a game or two, that’s much better than losing them for weeks or months, which has happened on a couple occasions in the past. We’re able to rest players when needed because there’s other people waiting.
"We have the likes of Jordan Willis and Joe Wormleighton who have missed a couple of squads but they are conducting themselves fantastically well and they were very good on Tuesday – why can’t they be on the bench on Saturday? It’s giving me headaches.
"There will be niggles, knocks and bruises but we'll manage them properly and the lads who we select on Saturday will be feeling 100 per cent and ready to go.”
The 3-0 win over Chelsea Under-21s in midweek came at a good time for Town as it allowed them to give minutes to a number of fringe players.
Nolan added: "Tuesday was valuable for us because we have lads coming back from injuries and people who have been on the bench but are only coming on for 10 or 15 minutes. To get them through 90 minutes was really good.
“Chelsea are going really well in Premier League 2 but we dealt with them well and I thought everybody who featured acquitted themselves well and I was pleased with the attitude and professionalism.”