Town boss Roy Keane is yet to decide whether to include new loan signing Stern John in his starting XI at Cardiff City on Sunday (KO 3pm). The Blues manager will assess the Trinidadian’s fitness at training today and on Saturday before making a decision.
Keane has no new injury worries, aside from Alex Bruce, who is out for two or three weeks with the groin injury he sustained in last week’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.
The Town manager has confirmed that Gareth McAuley will come back into the starting line-up alongside Damien Delaney at the heart of the defence with David Wright and Liam Rosenior set to continue on the left and the right respectively.
In midfield, Keane has been trying to fit in both Jon Walters and Carlos Edwards, despite both preferring to play on the right. Edwards started on the left last week with Walters on the right and despite making a switch around at half-time which saw Walters up front and Edwards back in the right, the Blues could again line-up in the same way.
Keane was pleased with Owen Garvan’s display against Wednesday and the Irish U21 skipper will probably keep his place alongside Grant Leadbitter in the centre.
The Blues boss has shown in the past that he is happy to throw new signings straight into the side, so Stern John may well be included from the off, probably alongside Tamás Priskin, who showed some clever touches last week, despite not looking particularly dangerous in front of goal. Two from Jon Stead, Connor Wickham and Pablo Couñago will be on the bench.
Keane admits he was disappointed to lose loan keeper Asmir Begovic earlier in the week when he was recalled by Portsmouth: "We knew all along that when you’ve got a loan goalkeeper there’s a chance that they could be called back. We’ve got two other good goalkeepers at the club and they’ll get their chance on Sunday.”
The Blues boss says he will decide whether to recall Richard Wright or give Arran Lee-Barrett his Town debut over the next couple of days, but says he’ll have no worries about recalling the former England man: "I’ve not decided which one I’ll go with, but I’ll have no problem putting Wrighty back in. He’s a top keeper, but we felt he needed a break.”
Keane says Cardiff, currently fifth in the table, 14 points ahead of the second-bottom Blues with a home record of won four, drawn two, lost two, will prove a stiff challenge for his side: "Cardiff have been building nicely over the last few years. Dave Jones has got a good squad and a top striker in Michael Chopra and it’s certainly going to be a test for us.
"Our form hasn’t been too bad lately, but again we’ve not been scoring enough goals and that always puts you under pressure. However, we’re looking forward to the game.
"The players are in good spirits, obviously we’ve got a new signing with Stern and we’ve got a new coach, ‘Charlie’ McFarland, the ex-Notts County manager, so we’ve got a couple new faces on the training ground and we’re looking forward to the game.”
The Blues will be making their first appearance at the new Cardiff City Stadium, Keane having made his Town bow in Ninian Park’s final game last season. The match was switched to Sunday at the request of the police due to a rugby international taking place in the city on Saturday.
Cardiff midfielder Stephen McPhail is suffering with a stage one MALT lymphoma and is currently undergoing treatment which will keep him out of action until the new year, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Full-back Kevin McNaughton has a hamstring problem and is likely to miss out on Sunday, but Jay Bothroyd (knee tendon) and Anthony Gerrard (calf strain) are expected to be fit to face the Blues.
Young full-back Adam Matthews, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United, is also expected to be fine after a groin injury.
Striker Warren Feeney, whose grandfather Jim played for Town in the 1950s, has joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan, while full-back Tony Capaldi has moved to Leeds on a similar basis.
Bluebirds boss Dave Jones says Roy Keane will be a success at Town but that patience is required when a side is being rebuilt: "Roy has gone in and done a good job. Sometimes when results don't go the right way there is speculation.
"Ipswich have good players, they've brought good players in, and Roy is trying to mould them into the team he wants. That doesn't happen straight away.
"They've picked up some good results and had near misses trying to turn draws into wins. The culture now seems to be that if somebody loses some games, they've got to go.
"We're all under pressure from day one, win lose or draw because the expectation levels at every football club are really high.
"Some clubs show patience with managers, some don't. I don't see clubs that change their managers a lot at the top of the league. Patience and time in football are commodities that don't go together too well.
"We all know the situation and Roy knows it better than anybody. He's come out and said he's building for the future."
Town keeper Arran Lee-Barrett was with Cardiff between 2003 and 2005 after leaving Norwich’s youth set-up but made only one substitute appearance for the Bluebirds. No Cardiff player has previously represented the Blues.
Town have the upper hand historically, winning 15 (13 in the league), drawing 10 (10) and losing 10 (nine).
Last season, the Bluebirds won 2-1 at Portman Road in December, Jay Bothroyd and Gabor Gyepes netting for the Welshmen and Jon Stead scoring for Town, who had Ben Thatcher sent off for two bookable offences.
The Blues won the return fixture, the penultimate of the season, the last at Ninian Park and Roy Keane’s first in charge of Town, 3-0 with Pablo Couñago, David Norris and Jon Stead on the scoresheet. Richard Wright saved a Ross McCormack penalty.
Sunday’s referee is Jarnail Singh from Hounslow, who has shown 41 yellow and no red cards in 11 games so far this season. Singh’s last Town game was the 3-2 home victory over Scunthorpe in December 2007 in which he booked only the Iron’s Jim Goodwin.
Squad from: R Wright, Lee-Barrett, Rosenior, D Wright, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Brown, Leadbitter, Garvan, Quinn, Healy, Trotter, Colback, Walters, Edwards, Peters, Martin, John, Priskin, Stead, Couñago, Wickham.