McKenna: Burns and Nunez and Others Touch and Go For Monday
Thursday, 2nd Apr 2026 15:33
Town boss Kieran McKenna says a number of players, including Wes Burns and Marcelino Nunez, are touch and go for Monday’s home game against Birmingham City.
Burns suffered a calf injury against Sheffield Wednesday three weeks ago, while Nunez has been out since the Leicester match a month ago with a hamstring issue.
McKenna was yet to see all the players who were on international duty when he met the press early on Thursday afternoon with the Blues having gone two weeks without a game.
“A couple of them have been in and a couple we haven’t seen yet. So, Anis [Mehmeti], for example, flew back later into the day yesterday [having been away with Albania],” he said.
“We’ve tried to use the time well. The boys who have been fit, we’ve had a good block with, we had some match minutes last week, some training minutes, three days good training this week.
“The players coming back from injury have not all been quite as quick as we would have hoped, so it’s going to be touch and go for a large batch of them going into Monday. But none of them are too far away, so we’ll sort of see how the next few days go.
“And then the internationals, there’s always mixed experiences. It’s disappointing for the Irish boys [Dara O’Shea and Jack Taylor] that they weren’t able to get it over the line and then Anis gets his first cap [as a Town player], and Elkan [Baggott, Indonesia] gets a couple of caps and George Hirst gets a start [for Scotland], so mixed experiences.
“But tomorrow will be the first day we’ll have them all back in. I guess that’s the silver lining in terms of the cancellation of the game on Friday [Southampton away, postponed as the Saints are in FA Cup action].
“We were able to give the players the day off today. Those who have travelled and had a big international break and then the boys here have been working really hard, so it means that we can all regroup now on Friday morning, get as much of the group back together and back on the pitch as possible. And we’ve got three days to train and prepare for a really exciting game.”
Regarding the players who are “touch and go” McKenna confirmed that Burns and Nunez are among them: “Right in that category.”
He added: “It’s going to be touch and go. Of course, we won’t take any unnecessary risks. But we want to have as many of the players back.
“There are a few in that bracket, I think. If we get through the next week, we’ll be in a really, really strong position in terms of availability, Leif [Davis]’s suspension and the injuries that we do have.
“But from Monday, we’ll have to make the right decisions according to how people look in the next few days.”
Taylor missed the Republic of Ireland’s friendly with North Macedonia on Tuesday as his wife was unwell, but the midfielder has been with the group this week.
“Jack’s OK,” McKenna continued. “It was a personal situation, but he’s been back in training the last day or two, so that’s good.
“We have one or two others that are going to be touch and go, with all respect, I’ll probably not reveal who just in terms of the interest of protecting our information leading into the game.
“No one very serious, so I’d say that if we could push the game back another three days, I’d be really, really confident. On Monday, it’s going to be a little bit tighter.
“Ashley Young [who has been out with a hip injury] has been training the last couple of days, so that’s really good as well, really welcome to have his presence back with the group.
“So, again, it’s going to be a case of seeing who can train tomorrow back with the group and seeing how a few come through the next few days. We’ll have a strong team out and a good bench.
“Thankfully, I think we’re coming towards the end of some unfortunate injuries in terms of really important players and within hopefully the next short period of time, we’ll be closer to full strength.”
Third-choice keeper David Button is also making progress following a calf problem: “He’s really close, really close. He’s doing some goalkeeping work, but not fully with the team just yet, but this week should be.”
Central defender Cedric Kipre is back from his two-match ban but Davis will again be absent as he completes his controversial three-game ban.
Photo: Matchday Images
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