Skipper Grant Leadbitter looks set to come back into the Town side when the Blues visit Reading on New Year’s Eve (KO 3pm). The 25-year-old appears the most likely replacement for nine-goal top scorer Keith Andrews, who tore his hamstring at Leicester on Boxing Day, while Town will also be without striker Jason Scotland, also due to a hamstring problem.

Jimmy Bullard replaced Andrews, who is still with the Blues despite his injury with his loan up early next week, at the King Power Stadium but manager Paul Jewell will probably prefer the more combative Leadbitter against the in-form Royals.

Town's defensive line will be unchanged with Arran Lee-Barrett in goal, Aaron Cresswell and Carlos Edwards the full-backs and Damien Delaney and ex-Royal Ibrahima Sonko the central defenders.

Lee Bowyer will partner Leadbitter in the centre of the midfield with Daryl Murphy on the left and Lee Martin on the right.

Jason Scotland, who suffered a hamstring injury at Leicester on Monday, failed a fitness test yesterday afternoon and will miss out with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas perhaps getting the nod ahead of Nathan Ellington alongside Michael Chopra. The Trinidadian could be fit for Monday's home game with Nottingham Forest.

Reece Wabara will be on the Blues bench for the final time before his loan from Manchester City ends, while Andy Drury is likely to be back in the 16 after the completion of his spell at Crawley.

The Town manager says that with games coming every few days at this time of the year fringe players such as Drury could see themselves involved unexpectedly: “I think when you play two games in three days physiologically you’ve got to look at the effect that might have.

“Certainly with the games coming thick and fast in January, I’ve said to the players that if you don’t think you’re in the team at the moment, you might get the nod at any time, so make sure you’re ready.”

Jewell is envious of the squad stability at the Madejski Stadium in recent years: “They’re a good team at Reading. When you look at their side, they’ve got a number people who have been there for a number of seasons.

“You’ve got Adam Federici, Andy Griffin, Jem Karacan, Mikele Leigertwood, Noel Hunt, Simon Church, Jimmy Kebe and Jobi McAnuff who have all be around the team for a while, so they know that if they make a couple of changes — they lost Shane Long and Matt Mills in the summer — they’ve got players who seem to just slip into the team.

“That sort of stability and continuity is what we’re after. [The value of the] continuity they’ve had over the seasons is shown by the fact they’re always there or thereabouts.”

Royals boss Brian McDermott says his side, who are in sixth, nine points and 13 places ahead of the Blues, will come up against a resurgent Town team: "In the last three games Ipswich have got seven points, they've picked up and Paul Jewell has turned them around.

"They're on a good run, it's a big club with a good following and an experienced manager. They spent money in the summer, they'll be fine this season. They had a difficult run and I feel for any manager in that situation.

"In Ibrahima Sonko and Ívar Ingimarsson they've also got two of our former players coming back and it'll be good to see them.”

McDermott says his team is full of self-belief after three successive wins: "For us, our spirit is good, we got another win at home on Boxing Day, we've done well at home over a couple of years and we want to keep it going.

"A lot is said about confidence, and the harder your work, the more confident and lucky you get. Even if you're not at your most confident, if you work hard it comes back to you. You have highs and lows over a season, the most important thing is to work hard, as our players do.

"From the last three games, I think if we look at the three together - Leeds, West Ham, Brighton - before we played them, you go 'phew, that's tough', so the right thing to do is look at one at a time as you approach each one.

“Now that we've played them, nine points and not conceded, it's a fantastic run of results and performances. Now we want to keep it going."

Winger Hal Robson-Kanu is expected to be back in the squad after a knock, but Brynjar Gunnarsson is only just back in training as he recovers from a calf injury and is unlikely to be involved. Midfielder Brian Howard has returned to the Madejski Stadium after a loan spell at Millwall.

Over the years Town have had the edge over the Royals, winning 22 times (21 in the league), drawing nine (nine) and losing 17 (17). The Blues have lost their last three games against the Royals.

At the end of November, during the seven-game run of losses, Town snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the closing moments for the second week running as Reading left Portman Road with a 3-2 win.

Daryl Murphy opened the scoring 11 minutes after the break, but Kaspars Gorkss equalised for the Royals before Josh Carson’s deflected shot put the Blues back in front.

Town looked to have won it but Alex Pearce and Noel Hunt netted at the death to see the Blues to what was a third successive 3-2 defeat for the first time in the club’s history.

In March, in Paul Jewell’s first game under the Portman Road floodlights, goals from Irish trio Shane Long, Ian Harte and Noel Hunt consigned Town to a deserved 3-1 home defeat to Reading.

Blues striker Connor Wickham netted a consolation in the final moments, Long having put the Royals in front in the first half and Harte and Hunt adding the second and third late on.

At the Madejski Stadium in September last year, Town fell to their first away defeat of the 2010/11 season as Royals' sub Simon Church netted in the 86th minute with his first touch to give his side a 1-0 victory in a game which ended 10 v 10.

The Blues ought to have been in front by half-time with Jason Scotland missing when through on goal, while Luke Hyam and Reading’s Matt Mills saw red for second bookable offences in the second half.

Town central defenders Ívar Ingimarsson and Ibrahima Sonko were both big heroes when members of Steve Coppell’s Reading squad which reached the Premier League. Ingimarsson was the Royals’ skipper until joining the Blues after leaving the Berkshire club in the summer. No current member of Brian McDermott’s squad has previously played for Town.

Saturday’s referee is Jock Waugh from South Yorkshire, who has shown 49 yellow and three red cards in 18 games so far this season.

Waugh has never previously taken control of a Town match but the first of his four Championship games so far was the Royals’ 1-1 draw at Preston last season in which he booked six — including four Reading players - and red-carded Lilywhite and former Canary Darel Russell.

Squad from: Lee-Barrett, Wright, Edwards, Cresswell, Wabara, Delaney, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Bullard, Drury, Martin, Murphy, Carson, Chopra, Emmanuel-Thomas, Ellington.

Photo: Action Images

davekl12 added 11:35 - Dec 31 For all the summer signings, on paper we had one of the best player for player sides in the league... However, I'm afraid looking at the team today, everything looks immensely fragile. Scoring goals isn't the problem; January shouldn't be about purchasing a striker, a RB and CB please! Edwards at RM is a very accomplished player.
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Knightsy added 12:17 - Dec 31 We all know he's going to go at the end of the season for Free, Sell him now I've never been a Fan of him, we paid to much money for a Sunderland Reserve Player at the time.
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DutchTownFan added 14:12 - Dec 31 Our best spell of the season came when leadbitter was playing at the head of the diamond, so why is everybody complaining? He'll be rearing to go after being out of the side for so long, and then he reads all your negative rubbish! What effect will that have? Get behind the team for goodness sake!!! Bullard was rubbish monday, so why prefer him in the line-up? Come on leadbitter and JET, show us what you've got!!! My prediction: 2-1 to town, both of them scoring!

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