Chesterfield are the scheduled visitors to Sixfields and will face a Cobblers outfit buoyed by some excellent recent results and three clean sheets in a row.
Sampson has kept his squad on their toes by making two new signings this week, landing defender Luke Wilkinson on loan from Portsmouth and handing Irish striker Stephen O'Flynn a chance to make his mark in English football.
"Like everyone else who isn't in the team at the moment they have just got to work hard and when they do get an opportunity in the team they have got to take it," Sampson told the official club website.