Christian Fassnacht will give Norwich City a fitness boost ahead of their play-off semi final against Leeds United. 

The Swiss international was absent for their final day trip to relegated Birmingham with a minor groin complaint, with David Wagner opting to take no risks ahead of the play-offs. 

City are hopeful that he will be able to bolster their attacking options for the two-legged semi-final, enhancing their attacking options alongside young winger Jon Rowe, who continues to build up his fitness levels. 

Wagner resisted the temptation to start Rowe in Fassnacht's absence, instead keeping him on the bench again owing to 'limited' options in forward areas coupled with the young winger's fitness only allowing one half of football at present as he continues to build up his workload after a hamstring injury. 

"It was clear that he would only have been able to play 45 minutes maximum," Wagner said on Rowe's fitness.

"I was limited on offensive options if I started him because I knew that I would have taken him off after 45 minutes.

"You always have to prepare for every scenario as a manager, so I would have been limited on offensive options if I started him. This was the only reason.

"If Fasi was fit, maybe it would be different, but under the circumstances, there was only one solution to give Jonny some further minutes but not a start." 

The Pink Un: Christian Fassnacht is expected to return from injury for Norwich City this weekend.Christian Fassnacht is expected to return from injury for Norwich City this weekend. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Norwich are hopeful that Fassnacht will shake off his fitness concern to return in time to be included in their matchday squad for Sunday's Carrow Road first leg against Leeds United. 

"For me, the most important thing was that everybody stayed healthy. Yesterday [Friday] in training, Fasi got a minor groin problem," Wagner said after Saturday's game. 

"It doesn't look serious, but we didn't want to take any risks. We expect him back in training in the middle or end of next week. We had to manage our squad for this game whilst being as competitive as possible. From our perspective, Everyone was able to get game time.

"Even if the performance or result weren't great, there are lots of things that I can out of this game moving forwards into the play-offs."