Tony Mowbray has factored in the 550-mile round trip in deciding which players have travelled to Bournemouth for tomorrow night’s cup tie.

Mowbray revealed he would be making changes, but was coy on who would be missing out, though the likes of Darragh Lenihan, Charlie Mulgrew, Corry Evans, Bradley Dack and Danny Graham are expected to be given the night off.

After three games in seven days, and four more in 11 days before the international break, Mowbray will rotate his squad, taking the travel time in to account.

“We will make some changes,” the boss said.

“We have players who need some game-time, some young players who did well in the last round, so it’s not necessarily about the game, it’s the travelling and getting back at 4am and then that day is a wash-out as people need to eat, sleep, recover.

“Then Thursday becomes a light day, getting their legs working again, so you end up really with just one morning of preparation on Friday for a big game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. We will leave some of the senior players behind and try and go to Bournemouth and give a good account of ourselves.”

Mowbray’s side have lost just once in 11 matches so far this season, including two league cup wins over League Two opposition. But the boss is aware of the demands being placed on his players.

He added: “We’re trying to stabilise ourselves in this division but I understand that negative results can impact on the confidence of the team.

“It’s a balancing act for me. We have to be realistic and understand that a huge percentage suggests we won’t be winning the Carabao Cup this year given the power of the Premier League sides.

“We would like to test ourselves of course, we like to give it our best shot in every game which is what we will be doing, but when you see the effort the players are putting in to every game, the knocks, the bruises, the ice packs, you make calculated assessments of whether you can ask them again in three days time to sit on a bus for five-and-a-half hours, go again at the same intensity and then go back on the bus home.

“Then you demand again on Saturday the same and you can only do it so often. They have done it three times last week and to do it another three times would be asking a bit too much of some of them.

“As a manager you make those decisions and I understand we live and die by our results and that’s what we’ll do. I’ll make the call that plays at Bournemouth and the one that plays against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

“It’s a long, long way. It would have been a great draw for us at home. But we will get on the bus to the south coast and see how we get on.”