High-flying Norwich City are back in action on Friday and are face a tricky away test against Preston North End. The Canaries should go into the game as favourites as they currently sit on an impressive 10 game unbeaten run in the league whilst Preston have lost their last three.

Norwich are currently eight points clear of second place Watford in their bid to regain promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Farke's side have been in blistering form away from Carrow Road having won their last five games. Their last defeat on the road came back in February when they were beaten 2-0 by a strong Swansea side who themselves are battling it out at the top.

Despite being in such great form and boasting a healthy buffer at the top of the Championship Friday's game certainly isn't going to be all speed ahead for Farke as we look at some of the dilemmas facing the German manager.

Who replaces Skipp and Cantwell? 

Two of Norwich's shining lights this season have been on loan Tottenham midfielder Oliver Skipp and of course their very own Todd Cantwell. However, with such talent of course comes other commitments and in this case it's a call up to England's U21 squad for the European Championships.

Skipp has started both of England's games so far, which ended in defeat, and is likely to once again be in the side for their final must-win group game against Croatia on Wednesday. Even if England do crash out of the tournament, which on current form looks highly likely, the Norwich pair of Skipp and Cantwell still surely wouldn't be available with such a quick turnaround for Farke's Norwich.

So, that means there are gaps to fill, but who fill Farke go with?

 

 

Luckily Norwich are a side who boast a lot of depth at the Championship level and should have no issue in finding some replacements for the England duo, that being said it isn't going to be easy replacing them with the same quality.

Onel Hernandez could be set to start in place of Cantwell on Friday and will be full of confidence after scoring his first goal for his country Cuba in a 2-1 defeat to Curacao on Sunday.

The lesser spotted Alexander Tettey, who was once a regular starter for Norwich, is more than an able deputy for Skipp who has played almost every minute for The Canaries since moving on loan.

 

Right-back worries

Another player Farke will be without is his talented right-back Max Aarons. The 21-year-old has also been called up by Aidy Boothroyd's England U21 side and played all 90 minutes of the 1-0 opening game defeat to Switzerland.

Much like Skipp and Cantwell it looks highly unlikely that Aarons will be available for the tough trip away to Preston meaning that someone will have to step-up and do a job at right-back in his absence.

The obvious replacement would of course be Sam Byram, but the talented defender has been injured throughout the campaign and will not be in contention to feature on Friday.

This could see a centre half perhaps be played out of position for a game or could mean a completely new system.

 

New system needed?

With Aarons missing and no obvious right-back replacement in the side could we see Farke switch to a five back for the match against Preston?

Norwich aren't short in the central areas of defence and could look to use the likes of Hernandez and Buendia as wing-backs for this match.

Most managers are reluctant to change systems and Farke certainly has a way he likes to play, as we saw in Norwich's stubborn Premier League season.

Despite Norwich being in top form and sitting pretty at the top Farke certainly has some headaches to deal with ahead of Friday.