James Maddison has got to push himself to the front of the queue for a first team chance at Norwich City.

Interim Norwich City boss Alan Irvine admits he would have no problem throwing the former Coventry City youngster into the heat of Championship battle whilst he's in charge.

However, the Scot conceded that Maddison is behind both Wes Hoolahan and Alex Pritchard in the playmaker pecking order.

'He trains with the group every day and he has been on the bench a couple of times,' said Irvine, who will once again take charge of first team affairs at Huddersfield on Wednesday and Reading on Saturday whilst the club searches for a new permanent head coach. 'The problem for James is his competition is Wes and Alex Pritchard. So he needs them to get injured or lose a bit of form.'

Maddison, who arrived at Carrow Road last summer in a £2.5m deal amid reported interest from Liverpool and Tottenham, was an unused substitute during City's 2-0 defeat at Villa Park.

'I would have no qualms putting James in and he impresses me on a daily basis,' added Irvine. 'Technically he is very good. There are things he needs to add to his game but he is good player and a creator of goals and a scorer of goals. Whoever happens to be in charge there is no doubt he could feature before the end of the season.'

Matt Jarvis played the full 90 minutes during Norwich City's Under-23s Premier League International Cup semi-final defeat to Sunderland but Irvine believes the former West Ham man needs to get more games under his belt before he can be considered for the first team. 'To be out for the period he has you would want them to play a few to get up to speed,' he said. 'It is difficult for him with the little time we have left but what Matt has to do is remain fit for the rest of this season and we see where that takes him and more importantly for him he has an injury-free summer to build up to the new campaign.'

Meanwhile, City's medical team are pleased with the progress made by Louis Thompson, who snapped his Achilles at the start of the year. The City youngster, who signed a new contract in December, is 'still hobbling about' according to Irvine but there haven't been any setbacks in his rehabilitation so far.