Peterborough United manager considering a shock selection for Saturday's big game and all the injury updates

It’s the difficult nature of that match which is tempting manager Darren Ferguson to throw the 30 year-old into a first-team match for the first time since March 20, 2022.

The Posh boss is a big fan of Norburn’s competitive skills, but the player will first have to come through Tuesday’s under 21 fixture at Birmingham City unscathed.

Norburn is expected to play an hour to add to the 45 minutes he played in a similar fixture last week.

"Obviously we will have to see how Ollie does at Birmingham and how he reacts after the match,” Ferguson said. “But if he comes through okay he will be in contention on Saturday.

"It’s the nature of Saturday’s game against a very good side which makes me think about Ollie, but there will also be conversations first with the medical team.”

Norburn would battle against Hector Kyprianou and Jeando Fuchs for the midfield place alongside Jack Taylor against Plymouth. Kyprianou was taken off at half-time in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Morecambe for tactical reasons and was replaced by Fuchs who was making his first appearance since Ferguson returned to the club last month.

Taylor picked up a niggle at Morecambe, but is expected to be fine for the weekend.

Right-back Nathan Thompson was rested from the Morecambe game, but should return to Saturday’s matchday squad. He might struggle to replace Joe Ward who deputised well for him.

Young striker Ricky-Jade Jones and rookie defender Manu Fernandez have ankle injuries and won’t be involved on Saturday. Jones could be back for the home game with Charlton next Tuesday (February 28).

"Hector played well at Morecambe,” Ferguson added. “He just picked up a caution before half-time so it made sense to take him off with us 3-0 ahead. Jeando did fine when he came on, but it was more difficult for him as the team didn’t play so well.

"Joe was good at right-back and we still had good forward options on Saturday with Kwame Poku out wide and Harrison Burrows in a central position.

"We have seven games in three weeks now so those options will be important.”

After the home games with Plymouth and Charlton, Posh travel to League One leaders Sheffield Wednesday on March 4 before tackling Shrewsbury (home, March 7), Cheltenham (home, March 11), Burton (away, March 14) and Lincoln (away, March 18).