Several players set to return from injury and illness for FA Cup tie with Charlton

Norwich City head coach Dean Smith will welcome back several players for our Emirates FA Cup tie with Charlton Athletic on Sunday.

Norwich City head coach Dean Smith will welcome back several players for our Emirates FA Cup tie with Charlton Athletic on Sunday.

The Canaries were without 10 first team players for fixtures against Arsenal and Crystal Palace over the Christmas period, due to injury and illness, but many of those players are now set to return.

Speaking about the team news, Dean Smith said: "The squad is looking healthier. We have got five or six back. We are looking at (Milot) Rashica who is going to be back in training with us today and we will see how he is.

"Grant Hanley is also back, along with Tim Krul, Teemu Pukki, Max Aarons and Todd Cantwell."

Some of those players were out with Covid-19 and Dean was asked if he felt they had had enough time to recover to be sharp for Sunday's match.

"We are hopeful it is (enough time), but it is what it is" he said. "We have been forced to play three games with a minimal squad, but it is nice to have players back and build that confidence that we had when we first came in.

"It is a real balancing act now because we have got a lot of players who haven't played since early December that need minutes and then players who played at Crystal Palace who haven't had many minutes before.

"We have got plenty of options but we have to look at Charlton Athletic as well as the games with West Ham and Everton in seven days and do what is best for the team."

Dean confirmed that Lukas Rupp (hamstring), Andrew Omobamidele (back) and Mathias Normann (pelvic) will miss Sunday's game but there are no fresh injury concerns.