Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell says that he would be ‘foolish not to use the final games of the season to consider all his options’.

With the Railwaymen in no danger of going down and two straight defeats to Cheltenham and Port Vale recently ending any hopes of gatecrashing the play offs late on, the Alex boss could use the remaining few games to give some of his younger players more of an opportunity.

Artell says that the players have to earn the right to feature in the final five games of the campaign and make an impression in readiness for next season.

The boss told the club’s official website: “With five games left and no relegation fears and no promotion aspirations, we’d be foolish not to consider our options.

"But it’s a great opportunity for us as a management team and the players who may or may not have got opportunities and minutes on the first team pitch to show what they can do.

"Does that mean wholesale changes? Certainly not. Does that mean a player or two in the next five games might get an opportunity when they otherwise might not have? Maybe.

"But at the end of the day, we’ve got to pick a team to win the game and if that means you’re not in the team, that’s because you’re not in the team on merit. It’s as simple as that – do more."

"We’ve got five big games, five crucial games for this football club.

David added: "Can we finish in the top 10? That’s where we’ve got to be, we’ve got to aim our sights as high as possible and with five games to go, there’s no reason why we can’t do that.”