For the first time this season, the Blues will be playing three Premier League games in a week, having suffered 1-0 defeats against Nottingham Forest (a) and Crystal Palace (h) on Saturday and Tuesday respectively.

On right-back Ben Johnson (thigh) and midfielder Kalvin Phillips (ankle), who were both unused substitutes in midweek, McKenna said: “Both are still not at 100%. They’re still managing some those knocks and are not quite out of the woods yet.

“We’re trying to make the right decisions to get the best team we can out on the pitch for any given game, but also not take any unnecessary risks given we have got a busy schedule coming up.”

Midfielder Jens Cajuste has started the last four games. Asked if the Swedish international, who has been managing a knee issue all season, was ready to play a third game in eight days, McKenna replied: “That’s a question that we’re looking at. I think it would be undue risk to play three 90s in eight days.

“We’re still building up his fitness, he’s still managing a prior issue, and we’re trying to find the careful balance of getting him on the pitch where he’s doing some good things and not pushing him too far and risking losing him for a long period of time.”

Axel Tuanzebe (hamstring), Chiedozie Ogbene (Achilles) and George Hirst (hamstring) remain long-term absentees.

“That’s three of our most physical profiles. They are important players for the level that we’re competing at,” rued McKenna.

“We made some changes on Tuesday night that were necessary. It’s not going to be the same 11 every game. On Tuesday you could see the challenge for a couple of our younger players having to Saturday-Tuesday in the Premier League for the first time.

“We’d like to have one or two more available to rotate, but in general we’ve still got a pretty healthy squad.”