David Artell says that he is eager to bring in one or two new faces before the end of the transfer window, so that he can cover all eventualities.

Having lost James Jones through injury and the experienced Nicky Hunt and Paul Green only just resuming training after slight injuries, the Alex boss admits that we could be 'one or two injuries away from playing players out of their preferred position.'

With the window closing in a week’s time, the Crewe boss has already gone on record to suggest that full-backs remain his top priority to offer cover and competition to Perry Ng and Harry Pickering. He has already stated that any loanee signing will have to contest for a place like anybody else.

David explained to the club’s official website: “We are possibly one or two injuries away from players playing out of positions and although we have a number of players who can do that, it is not ideal.

“A lot of our players, especially the younger ones, are versatile because they have grown up playing various positions. Perry can play anywhere. Harry is at left-back but his best position is probably in midfield or even higher.

“Ryan Wintle moved to centre-half when Hunty was injured against Newport County and was terrific. He has done it before and he can also play right-back. Nicky Hunt can play right-back or at centre-half and so on, but we don’t want to be relying on that.

The boss added: We have players who can play numerous positions and it certainly helps you as a manager but we don’t want to be riding our luck and leave ourselves a bit short somewhere, so I would like to bring one or two in certainly.”