Martin: We are going to need everyone

Saints start the gruelling festive programme with Saturday’s trip to QPR, before hosting Swansea and Plymouth ahead of Martin’s New Year’s Day return to Norwich, where he spent nine years as a player.

The Loftus Road clash falls unusually close to Christmas, condensing the schedule more than ever, but Martin believes his players are ready for what’s to come.

“We’re in a good place. Hopefully we can maintain that over these four games because we are going to need everyone,” he said.

“Flynn [Downes] felt much better after coming through 60-odd minutes [against Blackburn], so the biggest problem is choosing the team with so many good players, but it’s a really brilliant problem to have.

“There will be some changes over these four games, for sure. I can’t tell you what they’re going to be yet because I don’t know myself – you have a team in mind for each one, but then things change very quickly, so I’m really looking forward to it and the squad, I think, is in a really good place.”

One of those changes could see the return of Jack Stephens to the starting line-up after four months out through injury, after the Saints skipper came off the bench against Blackburn last time out.

“Everyone is good,” Martin continued. “Jack [Stephens] obviously played another 45 minutes in the Under-21s, so it was nice to see him back out there and get some more minutes after being able to come on against Blackburn and show what he does. He played a beautiful pass to Sékou [Mara] for the penalty, to set that up.

“I think he’s ready now. We just didn’t want to miss the opportunity before this run of games to get some more minutes on the pitch, so that was the plan always, and him getting on for half an hour was an added bonus for us, so he’s played 75 minutes of football now.

“I think he’s in a really good place. He’s looked fantastic in training, so I think he’s ready to start over this period of games – I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.”