Captain McLean (ankle) and influential central midfielder Mattsson (hamstring) have been sidelined for the victories over Watford and Derby.

But the experienced Field and highly-rated Wright have forged a winning Championship double act.

McLean and Mattsson have limited time to press their case, with a quick midweek turnaround and another away trip on the horizon ahead of another international break.

“They both feel better again day by day. So it's in the next days to see how fast they recover. If they can step into collective sessions,” said Clement. “Of course, we will not have many collective sessions. It will be a recovery day (Wednesday).

"The guys who didn't play, they will train. It will be too early for them, so we will need to see Thursday, Friday what it is.

“But we must give praise to the people who need to be praised, also I think Sam and Jacob played a really good performance again in the middle of the park. It shows how all this group is involved in the story, and I was really pleased about their performance also.

“Against an aggressive opponent like Derby it is crucial to dominate the ball and the structure of the team is good. We wanted to press them high, not give them easy balls in and around our box, and the team did that really well. The players who started, but also with the players who came on, to keep our football, and we could have scored even more than the four goals.

"And keeping a clean sheet after a long time will help the team also in confidence again. that's what you want to see. So I want to see that a lot of times more this season.”

Norwich City attacker Ante Crnac made a late second half appearance at Derby on the ground where he suffered a long term cruciate knee ligament injury last season (Image: Andy Sumner/Focus Images Ltd)

Jovon Makama sealed the 4-0 away win at Derby with a ferocious finish but Clement reserved special praise for his fellow second half arrivals.

“Happy also for Ante (Crnac) coming back on the pitch here, where he got injured last season, so that was also a big one for him,” he said. “Jovon scoring his goal again, Lucien (Mahovo) doing good things, Oscar (Schwartau) doing good things, Fish (Kellen Fisher) coming back on the pitch.

"There are a lot of guys training well, and you want to give them also a reward for a moment, which we tried to do in the second half, but also the team that started played a very mature game, and that's what I want to see. No complacency, a mature game and controlling the game in most of the moments.”