Helsingborg manager Nanne Bergstrand says his isn't overly bothered if his side lose 2-1 tonight at Portman Road. He says an away goal would be crucial and that they have had good results away in Europe before.

Bergstrand said: "For us 1-1 is a very good score, we would even accept losing 2-1. As that would give us a chance of winning the tie in Sweden. We have played both Bayern and Inter Milan so we know we can play well away from home against very good teams."

He expects a very quick game and has been impressed with Town when he has seen them: "We expect the tempo to be high, the crowd forces that in English football, and we will have to work very hard for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Ipswich are a good team and were excellent last year - English football is very well known in Sweden and the Premiership is in the best leagues in the world."

George Burley hopes his side can avoid going behind in this tie after conceding early on against Torpedo Moscow: "In the home leg against Torpedo we went behind early which is never ideal. If you make a mistake at the back you are punished and that was the case. We saw the character in the side when we fought back and we were unfortunate not to score more goals. Then, we had that tremendous win in Moscow. We showed against Moscow that we can compete in Europe and hopefully we can do the same again."

It looks likely that Finidi George will return as the Blues seek to be as positive as possible in the home leg. The Nigerian midfielder was left out against Everton, but apparently reacted to this in a professional manner and did well when he came on late in the game.

We understand that Alun Armstrong isn't as much of a fitness worry as he was but that he may still miss out with Burley keen to keen his players fit during a period when they are playing two games a week. Richard Naylor is the most likely replacement for him. Sixto Peralta could also be involved in some way after putting in an impressive performance in the behind-closed-doors friendly with Peterborough earlier in the week as well as doing well at Crewe last week.

Hermann Hreidarsson is already looking forward to future rounds and sees a tie with either Milan club as amongst his favourite draws. He would also like to take on international team-mate and friend Eyjolfur Sverrisson who plays for Hertha Berlin: "I would love to be drawn against him. We always meet up and talk about things. We are good friends."

Tonight's referee is Wolfgang Sowa from Austria.

There are still tickets for the game available from the ticket office. The club has also asked for fans to be in the ground by 7.45pm to witness the opening of the Greene King Stand by UEFA president Lennart Johansson.

Town have also announced that 140 staff will be taken to the away leg at the club's expense.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls