Josh Sargent is a doubt for Norwich City's crunch Championship clash against play-off chasing rivals at Preston North End. 

The American international was replaced on the hour mark of their midweek 2-2 draw against struggling Sheffield Wednesday due to quad tightness. 

David Wagner revealed at his pre-match press conference that City's top scorer has been unable to train in the lead-up to this encounter, with the German adopting a policy of not selecting players who fail to complete a session 24 hours before matchday. 

Sargent now faces a race against the clock to prove his fitness ahead of this weekend, with Norwich knowing that a victory would create an eight-point gap with Preston ahead of their final three Championship matches. 

"Josh went off after 60 minutes with some quad tightness. He is a doubt because he was not able to train today," Wagner said. 

"To be fair, the last couple of weeks in terms of training it has been all good, and he has been able to follow the regime. He has played now a lot of 90 minutes, and then Tuesday night, he felt his quad.

"This is why we got him off. There are some further games after Saturday, and hopefully a few more after the regular season as well.

"We have to be smart about when we use each player. On Tuesday, Shane Duffy got a rest after he was very fatigued in his first 90 minutes against Ipswich, and Danny Batth came in.

"He did great to support us and Duffy at this moment. He looks fresh again for Saturday."

Missing Sargent would leave Wagner with Ashley Barnes, loan striker Sydney van Hooijdonk and youngster Ken Aboh as his attacking options. 

The Pink Un: Jonathan Rowe is stepping up his recovery from a hamstring injury.Jonathan Rowe is stepping up his recovery from a hamstring injury. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

This weekend will also come too soon for winger Jonny Rowe, who will have to be patient for his City return after a hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined since February.

"We have to assess him every day, but there is a big chance that he is involved next week against Bristol City at home," City's head coach said. 

"He has made his first steps this week in team training but we have to see."