Central defender Richard Naylor will return to the Town line-up against Coventry at the weekend after recovering from his groin injury. Town will be without midfielder Ian Westlake who is suspended after reaching five bookings.

Manager Joe Royle says that Naylor is over the problem which forced him to miss the FA Cup third round tie against Bolton: "Richard trained yesterday and came through without any trouble. He did all that was asked of him and will be fine for Saturday."

Naylor, who will have a testimonial next season, will return to the defence with Scott Mitchell dropping out and Fabian Wilnis moving to right-back.

Despite a loss of form over Christmas, Royle says he will be sticking with strike partnership Shefki Kuqi and Darren Bent.

The Town boss would have played Dean Bowditch against Bolton last week but the England U19 international fell ill.

Royle says he knows the 18-year-old is itching to return to the side: "I am well aware that he is champing at the bit to get back in. He was going to start against Bolton - he was the logical choice - until illness struck.

"Also, Pablo gave us his best half-hour in a long time when he came off the bench against Bolton.

"But I have a sense of loyalty about Darren and Shefki. There is no problem - we are top of the league, the top scorers and our front players have done well together."

Westlake's absence - he picked up his fifth booking at Plymouth recently - will mean Tommy Miller will return to the starting line-up for what will be his 100th league game in a Town shirt.

Miller, who is out of contract in the summer, has been told by Joe Royle that he will speak to him about his future in the next few weeks.

Royle will have to choose between Matt Richards and loanee Danny Karbassiyoon for the left-back role. The American did well against Bolton before picking up a calf injury which will not keep him out of the Coventry game.

Probable squad: Davis, Price, Wilnis, Richards, Karbassiyoon, Naylor, De Vos, Magilton, Miller, Horlock, Currie, Mitchell, Bent, Kuqi, Bowditch, Couñago.

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