Canaries central defender Jason Shackell won't be risked for Saturday's trip to Luton if he is unable to train this week.

Canaries central defender Jason Shackell won't be risked for Saturday's trip to Luton if he is unable to train this week.

Shackell hasn't trained properly for more than three weeks and missed Saturday's home win over Leeds after his comeback from an ankle injury faltered against Wolves a week ago.

With Dion Dublin injured, Shackell was pushed back into action, but failed to reappear for the second half, with manager Peter Grant saying the lack of activity on the Colney training fields had led to further problems, with his calf.

Now Grant is refusing to take any more risks.

“I am not going to take a chance on him,” said Grant. “Unless he gets a week's training in I am not going to take a chance because he has not trained for nearly three weeks now and part of the reason for his injury coming back was fatigue more than anything else.

“You expect that , because you can do all the cardio-vascular stuff you want, but if you are not actually physically training on the pitch it is very, very difficult. That's why he ended up with a bit of a calf strain. That tightens up and it could cause long-term damage, as in four, five six weeks and I just can't afford that because he is too important to me.

“So if he doesn't get a full week's training in he won't play next week.”