Wrexham suffering worst injury crisis ever under Phil Parkinson ahead of facing Preston North End

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson has cursed his side's injury problems ahead of facing Preston North End, claiming he's suffering from the worst injury crisis since taking charge of the club.

Preston travel to Wales on Saturday in desperate need of their first victory under Graham Alexander after the new manager watched his side get slammed 4-0 by Birmingham City on Tuesday night.

Wrexham also lost in mid-week, a late collapse at home to West Brom drawing the ire of the home crowd and piling the pressure on their manager.

Parkinson took charge at the Racecourse Ground in 2021 and believes that, over the last five-and-a-half years, he has never been 'hit harder' by injuries.

"You're never going to get a full quota to select from, you're going to have injuries, but I think we've been hit hard," he said ahead of facing Preston, via The Leader.

"I don't want to keep going on about it but we've been hit harder than we probably have at any other time since I've been here.

"But it's about finding the solutions to that, we've done that before and we'll do it again.

"It's finding the formula with the group of players we've got available to make us more effective while keeping that defensive strength.

"Any game of football at any level, managers are striving for that balance. Can we threaten more without making sure we're too open on the transition?"

Wrexham without seven players but welcomed one back this week

Wrexham are currently without seven key players as they struggle for form, with just one win in the last five matches seeing them sit in 17th place, though seven points above North End.

The Red Dragons will be without Max Cleworth, George Thomason, Nathan Broadhead, Libby Cacace, Ben Sheaf, Matty James and Josh Windass for Saturday's game.

However, key centre-back Callum Doyle did return to action last time out after missing the weekend's draw with Derby County due to a groin problem.

Parkinson said after Tuesday's loss: "It was a blow for us at the weekend when we lost Callum but he had the weekend with our physios and they worked so hard with him to get him ready.

"He trained some of the session on Monday, he's a determined player and character, and he wanted to be out there."

Preston have their own squad concerns

Preston will be heading to Wrexham with their own concerns about the state of the available squad.

Johnny Kenny had not yet returned to training when Alexander spoke on Wednesday and even if he is out on the grass on Friday, he is unlikely to be involved.

Harry Clarke and Liam Gibbs definitely won't be, as they're set for spells on the side lines with a knee and quad injury, respectively, with Ali McCann and Brad Potts also out.

To make matters worse, Stanley Mills will miss the game through suspension after his sending off at Birmingham.

In good news, though, Caleb Wiley could return to action after training this week, while Lewis Gibson is in contention to start after coming on off the bench at St. Andrew's.