Norwich City boss Paul Lambert will assess the fitness of Zak Whitbread this morning before deciding whether the defender is fit to play a part against Stoke City on Sunday.

The former Millwall man limped off during City's opening day draw at Wigan on Saturday with a knee injury and Lambert is not prepared to take a risk on the player given the aerial bombardment the back four are likely to face against the Potters.

'I will have to wait and see how he is this morning,' said the Scot at his weekly press briefing. 'If there's any doubt then I think it's too big to take a risk on any of the players.

'I think everyone else seems not too bad – they seem to have recovered from last week. I think Zak's the only one giving cause for concern.'

Lambert revealed that new signing Daniel Ayala will be part of the squad after the Spaniard came through 70 minutes for the reserves unscathed against Blackburn on Tuesday evening.

'It's a great opportunity for him. Daniel has come in and he has played in a reserve game the other night and did really fine.

'There's an opportunity for him to make a career for himself and hopefully he fits into the group.

'He will be in the squad for Sunday.'