Bristol City fringe players to get their chance but no bids for Famara Diedhiou so far

Bristol City are set to hand chances to some of the first-team players who have not yet featured for the Robins this season.

With Northampton Town visiting BS3 on Wednesday evening Dean Holden is expected to rotate in at least a couple of positions and Bristol Live understands that several fringe players have been told that they will get a chance to showcase their talents in the coming weeks.

After playing against Keith Curle's League One side, City will play Stoke City on Sunday before potentially another League Cup game - against the winners of Aston Villa or Burton Albion in BS3 the week afterwards. That is if they get past former Bristol Rovers and Bristol City centre-back Curle's team, of course.

Holden recognises that the Robins have too many midfield options currently and he aims to trim his squad.

And while some supporters have interpreted this to mean that either Kasey Palmer or Adam Nagy are close to departing BS3, the Robins are set to hand several so-far unused players a chance over the next games.

"I talked about not changing the team for the sake of it but we have to be smart at certain points in the season," said Holden on Friday.

"It’s about not weakening your team by making those changes and still trying to trim the squad down.

"There’s still work to do in terms of the transfer window to get our numbers down. But in terms of incomings, we’re okay," he explained.

Joe Morrell is one player who could be involved on Wednesday evening at Ashton Gate, after the head coach explained that following two international games and travel to Scandinavia and back, Morrell was feeling a tight calf.

The midfielder played 180 minutes for Wales against Finland and Bulgaria recently, but could turn out for City against the Cobblers The 23-year-old was even rumoured to be of interest to Watford at the end of last week but Bristol Live understands that Morrell is not heading to Vicarage Road.

Meanwhile,  there have been no bids for key forward Famara Diedhiou, despite increased speculation on the striker's future over the weekend.

Diedhiou has been offered a new contract by the Robins and the club are still waiting to hear if he will accept the fresh terms.

There is interest from other teams but City are far from accepting an offer, as was rumoured on social media on Monday.