Wrexham’s focus for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign will now be on securing League One promotion.
Wrexham are set to take on Bolton Wanderers in a 12:30pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon.
Heading into the match, the Red Dragons are sat on 61 points, three adrift of second-place Wycombe Wanderers.
However, Wycombe are likely to lose their fixture this gameweek as they travel away to take on a high-flying Birmingham City who already have the title pretty much wrapped up.
In turn, it’s imperative Wrexham manage to pick up three points against Bolton on March 1st.
The Wanderers have had a mixed 2024/25 to date but four wins from their last five mean they will have moved up to eighth, sitting just outside the play-offs via goal difference.
Wrexham player unlikely to start again in 2024/25
Ahead of the huge clash, Phil Parkinson will be making some big changes to his starting lineup.
Ollie Rathbone and Elliot Lee will likely come back into midfield in place of George Evans and Harry Ashfield.
If James McClean is fit, Jacob Mendy will surely be dropped at left-wing-back, while both centre-forwards will likely change.
Jack Marriott and Modou Faal started up top against Peterborough United but neither player is expected to retain their place.
Instead, Parkinson’s preferred two-man strike force in the league has been Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez.
This is especially bad news for Faal, who could now struggle to start another game for Wrexham before the season comes to a close.
Modou Faal’s improvement at Wrexham
The centre-forward joined from West Bromwich Albion during the 2024 summer transfer window for what was, at the time, a record fee.
However, the 22-year-old really struggled in the first six months of his stint in Wales with Wrexham fans hitting out at Faal amid some questionable performances.
To his credit, however, the number nine has improved a great deal since the start of 2025.
Faal was praised after scoring and assisting in the 4-1 victory over Port Vale earlier this month and once again found the back of the net this week.
But now Wrexham are out of the EFL Trophy, it’s hard to see him getting a start in League One this season.
He’s played just 56 minutes of football in the competition across seven appearances and is behind all of Smith, Rodriguez, Marriott, Steven Fletcher, Paul Mullin, Ollie Palmer, and perhaps Elliot Lee in the centre-forward pecking order.
It’s a shame given the improvement we have seen from Faal in the last month or so but he may now have to wait until next season to earn more regular minutes, potentially on loan somewhere else.