It feels like the perfect time for the manager to give the 22-year-old his first minutes of the season, and the former Middlesbrough prospect will no doubt have been inspired by Andy Cook’s memorable return to action in the opening game of the competition.
After nine months out with a knee injury, Cook came off the bench against Grimsby last month and scored twice in a 2-1 victory.
But asked if next Tuesday against the Toffees can be Kavanagh’s chance to do something similar, Alexander said: “I’m not going to use Everton as a practice match, so Kav knew he had to train fully this week to be in contention for Tuesday.
“That’s still not guaranteed either, because we’ll have to see how he is on Monday and how training has gone for him this week.
“I’m going to manage this game exactly as if it was the next one we have in the league against Barnsley.
“It’s a game we’ll prepare correctly for and as staff, we’ve been discussing what we want to do for it in training this week.
“We’ll prepare on Monday and go through it with the exact same principles and ambitions we show for every game.
“Whoever we believe can help us win the game will play.
Andy Cook's comeback was 'Roy of the Rovers' fare, but Graham Alexander would not have brought him back to face Grimsby had he not been ready. (Image: Thomas Gadd)
“It’s important to bring players in that are physically ready to at least compete at the right level.
“It’s not just about minutes in the legs, because 20 minutes jogging around is no good to us as a team, but I’d take someone sprinting around for 10.
“We have to assess which players can give us what they can for as long as they’re on the pitch.
“But we can’t have a team full of 30-minute players, we can’t make that many subs, so we need some lads that can go for the whole game.
“With Kav, he’s desperate to play, and he has been since pre-season, but he’s been unfortunate with his injury.”
If Kavanagh does feature on Tuesday night, he will have the unusual sensation of going up against an opposition side who are pretty much all younger than him.
Asked what differences he sees when City face an Under-21 team in the EFL Trophy, rather than Football League opposition, Alexander said: “I think it depends on the quality of their players.
“A lot of these Premier League clubs could probably put two or three sides out with the numbers they have in their youth set-up.
“But I think they tend to have a set way of playing, because it generally mirrors what the senior side are doing.
“They try and stick to that and while it’s good for those lads as a learning experience, they also compete really well.
Aston Villa's Under-21 side did a good job in last season's EFL Trophy, making it all the way to the last-16 before being knocked out by City. (Image: Thomas Gadd)
“If they don’t win, they’re gutted, if they do, they celebrate, so it means a lot to those clubs and players.
“There’s that youthful exuberance you have, sometimes naivety, sometimes real quality where you can see they’re going to be future Premier League players and why they’re already at that club.
“I really enjoy these games against the Under-21 sides and I know it isn’t a popular opinion, but I think it’s good for those clubs to be able to do this.
“It also gives us the opportunity to look at some players we might potentially loan in too.
“If we are looking at a loan player who’s an Under-21 at a Premier League club, we will analyse their games against Football League clubs.
“That gives us an idea of how they’ll do here and it builds up a better picture for us.”