Roy Keane says he will decide later today whether to give new loan keeper Asmir Begovic his debut against Swansea on Saturday or whether to stick with Richard Wright. Portsmouth keeper Begovic joined the Blues on a three-month loan yesterday in the wake of Wright making a number of errors.
Keane said: "The boy’s come in and he’ll be looking to come in as quickly as possible. He trained yesterday, he’ll train today and I’ll make a decision on him later today.”
Bosnian international Begovic could get the nod over Wright with the former England keeper having made one or two significant mistakes in recent games and with the Blues continuing their habit of leaking goals.
Town have no new injury worries after the week’s internationals, although Tamás Priskin and Gareth McAuley only returned last night and Carlos Edwards won’t be back at the club until later today and will probably miss training.
Their condition will be assessed before a decision is made on whether to play them with Edwards the biggest concern after playing the whole of both games for Trinidad and Tobago and having flown back from the Caribbean overnight.
Skipper Alex Bruce is available again after his groin injury and could come into the side for Tommy Smith alongside McAuley with Jaime Peters and Liam Rosenior likely to continue in the full-back roles.
Keane says Edwards may be rested until Tuesday’s game against Watford, so Lee Martin could come in as his replacement on the right of midfield, with Grant Leadbitter and Liam Trotter likely to continue in the centre.
Alan Quinn will probably keep his place on the left, particularly if Martin comes in for Edwards on the right. Keane has been impressed with Colin Healy’s performances in the reserves and the Irishman could come into the squad with Jack Colback also likely to be amongst the subs.
Up front, Jon Walters is likely to be partnered by either Tamás Priskin or Pablo Couñago.
Luciano Civelli and David Norris are Town’s only two long-term absentees due to their knee ligament injuries, but Keane says both are making good progress: "Civelli’s doing really well, and Norris. They’ve been on the training pitch this week.
"Luca’s due to see the specialist in two weeks, we’ll probably give him a week off so he can go home next week, but he’s back on the training pitch kicking a ball. I’m delighted with him, he’s shown a great, great attitude, same with David Norris. They’ll both probably be back in December.”
Keane admits that a victory of any kind is sorely needed after 11 matches without a win: "The fans will be desperate to see a home win, any sort of win, whether it’s home or away, a scrappy one or otherwise. We need to get that win under our belts, we’ve been saying that for four or five weeks.
"Swansea have been on a good little run themselves and clearly they play football in the right way. As much as we respect all the opposition we play, I think it’s about what we can do and we have been guilty of being sluggish in the way we’ve started some of the home games.
"We need to be ready from the first whistle and make sure we’ve got the preparation right – that’s certainly gone well this week – and trust the players to go out and perform.”
Swans boss Paulo Sousa comes up against Keane as a manager for the first time but says he always came out on the winning side in their battles as players: "It is a pleasure to have played against Roy Keane in our national teams and in the Champions League. He was a very competitive player who understood the game well.
"He had good technique and he was very aggressive without the ball. He was a clever player.
"He played with important players and with important clubs and he worked hard to develop himself.
"I'm pleased to have played against him because of all that – and also because I think I won every time!"
Sousa doesn’t think it will take too long for Town to start moving in the right direction: "When you change the manager you have to give time to the new people.
"It's not an easy job and it's important to have the protection and help that you need to get through difficult moments. I know results are very important, but sometimes people take decisions too quickly.
"One of the good things in English football is that managers are usually given more time to do a good job – more than in other countries – and I hope Roy Keane can turn things round at Ipswich.”
Swansea currently sit in 14th place on 14 points with an away record of won one, drawn two and lost two.
The Swans have a number of injury worries, striker Gorka Pintado is a doubt with a thigh injury and midfielder Joe Allen is a concern with a hamstring problem.
Defender Federico Bessone is expected to be OK despite a groin injury, however, striker Guillam Bauza (knee) and full-back Albert Serran (ankle) are expected to miss out. Midfielder Ferrie Bodde is out for the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
Over the years the results between the sides are neatly balanced, Town having won nine (seven in the league), Swansea also having been victorious on nine (nine) occasions, with seven (six) matches ending in draws.
Last season, the game at Portman Road ended in a 2-2 draw with Pablo Couñago netting twice for Town and Ferrie Bodde and Jordi Gomez for the Swans.
At the Liberty Stadium in February, Gomez added Swansea’s third goal in a 3-0 victory after Jason Scotland had netted the first two.
No current member of the Town squad has played for Swansea, although Pablo Couñago held talks with the Welsh club in the summer after the Blues and Swans agreed a fee before deciding against the move. None of Paulo Sousa’s squad has played for the Blues.
Saturday’s referee is Kevin Wright from Cambridgeshire, who has shown 20 yellow and two red cards in seven games so far this season. Coincidentally, Wright’s last Town game was the 3-0 defeat at Swansea last season in which he yellow-carded David Norris and Alan Quinn from Town and Swans defender Alan Tate.
Squad from: Begovic, R Wright, Rosenior, Peters. D Wright, Delaney, McAuley, Bruce, Smith, Balkestein, Leadbitter, Trotter, Colback, Healy, Edwards, Quinn, Martin, Walters, Couñago, Priskin, Stead, Wickham.