Shrewsbury v Fulham preview

Defenders missing for Sanchez

By Mark Buckingham   Last updated: 28th August 2007

Fulham Sanchez

Sanchez: Defensive worries

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Fulham are due to be without Chris Baird and Zat Knight for the Carling Cup trip to Shrewsbury Town.

The defenders are likely to be missing from Lawrie Sanchez's plans for the second round tie at the New Meadow for contrasting reasons.

Baird is out of the game through suspension after being sent off in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

But Knight is expected to be absent as reports suggest the centre-half is close to completing a £4million move to Villa.

With those two missing, Sanchez will have to tweak his defence, with Northern Ireland international Aaron Hughes still injured.

Moritz Volz and Ian Pearce are the likely options to come into the team as Fulham look to avoid losing to a League Two side for the second year in a row.

Injuries for Shrewsbury

Sanchez is also without Hameur Bouazza and Brian McBride through injury, while David Healy could be given a break.

Kasey Keller, who signed last week, made his debut against Villa and the veteran American keeper is due to continue at Shrewsbury.

Gary Peters is still without several first-team players, most notably Andy Cooke, who has a hamstring injury.

Cooke's absence is likely to see Stuart Nicholson and Dave Hibbert start up front, although Michael Symes is pushing for a place in attack.

Neil Ashton, Luke Jones and Ben Davies are injured, but Darren Kempson is hoping for a start.