Leeds United play-off rivals dealt huge injury blow as key man ruled out

Norwich City could be without experienced forward Ashley Barnes for the remainder of their campaign, David Wagner has confirmed. Barnes has played an important role for the Canaries this season, making 40 appearances in all competitions for the club and scoring seven goals along the way.

As such, it came as a blow to Wagner to see the veteran forward forced off with a calf injury on Saturday as the Norfolk outfit drew 2-2 with Swansea City. The hope was that Barnes would be able to shake off the injury in time for this weekend's all-important clash with Birmingham City, with Norwich needing just a point to absolutely make sure of their spot in the play-offs.

But he'll miss the trip to St Andrew's and he looks set to sit out of the play-off semi-finals that could follow. Wagner is hopeful that if the club reach the final at Wembley, Barnes will be able to play some part, but his impact will be felt in the meantime as Norwich strive for the right to reach the showpiece event at the national stadium.

Norwich will continue to be without Onel Hernandez and Liam Gibbs through injury, too.

"He has a calf injury, as we expected," Wagner said on Barnes in his press conference on Thursday. "Luckily, it's not a major muscle so we will not rule him out for the rest of the season. There is a slight chance for the play-off final at Wembley. This is now how we treat him, that he works hard in the treatment room with our physios and medical department to hopefully make it.

"Let's wait and see how he recovers and what the future will show us with him. Now, we use what we have, and in the last game, it was quite good what we've shown offensively, even if we didn't score more than two goals. I'm quite confident and have a lot of trust in my team that they will do without Barnsey if needed."

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On his squad as a whole, Wagner added, per the Pink Un: "This commitment, and I've said it now over the last 10 months, was a point where not everyone believed in it, and the togetherness of this group is extraordinary. I've been in a few dressing rooms over the last 20 years, and this is something special about what they have. This means the players who can't help on the pitch play their part off the pitch. This is good to have."

Norwich are currently fifth in the Championship and should they stay there, they will take on Southampton in the play-off semi-finals. Drop down to sixth, though, and that opens up the possibility of taking on Leeds United over two legs. Leeds have seen the Canaries off twice this season, with a 3-2 win coming in East Anglia before edging them out 1-0 at Elland Road in January.