Town boss Mick McCarthy has made seven changes to his XI for today’s FA Cup third round tie at home to League One Preston with his side set to line-up in a 3-5-2 formation.

Scott Loach, Tyrone Mings, Carlos Edwards, Luke Hyam, Anthony Wordsworth, Frank Nouble and debutant Sylvan Ebanks-Blake start in place of Tommy Smith, who has a back injury, Daryl Murphy (thigh) and Dean Gerken (groin), who drop out of the 18, while Cole Skuse, Ryan Tunnicliffe and Paul Anderson move to the bench, alongside top scorer David McGoldrick.

Skipper Edwards will start at right wing-back with Cresswell on the left and Luke Chambers, Christophe Berra and Mings forming a three-man backline.

Town: Loach, Chambers, Berra, Mings, Edwards, Cresswell, Hyam, Tabb, Wordsworth, Nouble, Ebanks-Blake. Subs: Crowe, Anderson, Skuse, Tunnicliffe, Hunt, Taylor, McGoldrick.

Preston North End: Rudd, Keane, Huntington, Wright, Davies, Holmes, Gallagher, Buchanan, Welsh, Hume, Kilkenny. Subs: Stuckmann, Laird, Byrom, Beavon, Garner, Hayhurst, Brownhill. Referee: Michael Naylor (South Yorkshire).

Photo: Action Images

masetheace added 14:43 - Jan 4 At last - the system that suits the players we have . Chambers not like a duck out of water at full back - Smith back for Mings next week , and two wide guys comfortable going forward with a bit of pace . Bring it on
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irishtim added 14:48 - Jan 4 Will be interesting how that formation work's out. Could be a blessing in disguise, or a tragedy.
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BlueBoots added 14:54 - Jan 4 I called the formation a couple of days ago...didn't do so well the line-up though! http://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/291978/2348775/preston-north-end/#post2348775
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battyblue added 15:19 - Jan 4 i don't think MM is to worried about winning this with the starting line up he has put out hope i am wrong though. Taylor should be starting. and Hunt.
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Beattiesballbag added 15:38 - Jan 4 battyblue... your not wrong! we're at home & he's changed the normal line up to match a lower division team, game starts they change their expected line up to 442 & he immediately changes to match them again. If you want to know what tactics we're going to use, just check out how the opposition normally plays, then if we can stop them playing ......IF......we can stop them playing anything after that is a bonus, The only thing Mick worries about is stopping the opposition!

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