Town boss Paul Jewell looks set to name an unchanged side for the fourth game running when the Blues take on Brighton and Hove Albion at Portman Road on Saturday. The Liverpudlian will be hoping his team keeps a fourth clean sheet in a row for the first time since the 1996/97 season.
Jewell was delighted with the performance during the 1-0 victory at West Ham on Tuesday, particularly the first half display: "I think anyone who saw us play at West Ham will say that the only thing that was missing from us in the first half was two or three goals. The game should have been over at half-time.
"We have been playing some exhilarating football and working hard as well. It’s also a big ask for Cressy and Carlos to get up and down, but they can do it.”
The Blues manager says it’s important to have the likes of Aaron Cresswell in the team alongside his more senior signings: "I think you need a mix of experience and youth. It’s a long old league and legs are going to play a key part.
"We’ve got Cressy, we’ve got Reece Wabara from Manchester City, we’ve got Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, so we’ve got a few young ones in there, but our main core is experience.
"You can’t build a house on sand and the most solid thing we need is the ability to keep clean sheets and we’ve done that of late. If we do that, we’re not going to lose.”
Despite the last three results, Jewell says the side is still some way from its best: "I’ve said from day one that it will take a while for a lot of new players to gel, even though most of them are experienced.
"My experience of teams is that it takes a while for them to know each other, to get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
"We’ve had some real body blows in the season so far but at the minute we’ve bounced back and we’re playing with confidence.
"We’re not playing with arrogance, we know that we’ve got to continue to improve to get better.”
The Blues manager expects a typically tight, tough Championship game: "It’s a tremendous league, a very difficult league and very even.
"Brighton have had a great start to the season, OK they lost the other night but they’ve continued their momentum [from their promotion last season] and football is all about momentum. And at the moment we’ve got some momentum.
"They’ll be delighted with the start they’ve had to the season. They won’t be happy with their last couple of results but overall after nine games they won’t be unhappy with where they are.”
David Stockdale will continue in goal with Carlos Edwards likely to get the nod ahead of new loanee Reece Wabara at right-back and with Aaron Cresswell on the left and Danny Collins and Ibrahima Sonko in the centre.
The Blues’ backline will be aiming for a fourth consecutive clean sheet, something which hasn’t been achieved since April 1997.
Then, George Burley's men actually managed five in a row when they beat Oldham Athletic 4-0 at home, Swindon 4-0 away, Norwich City 2-0 at home — with Seagulls assistant manager Mauricio Taricco netting the first goal - Manchester City 1-0 at home and then a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth.
Jewell will stick to with his midfield diamond of Jimmy Bullard behind Keith Andrews and Lee Bowyer with skipper Grant Leadbitter at the most advanced point. Jason Scotland and Michael Chopra will be up front.
Nathan Ellington will again be on the bench with the Blues manager unlikely to take a risk on Daryl Murphy: "Daryl aggravated his hamstring in the warm-up [at West Ham] and I wasn’t prepared to take the chance of someone going on not fit.”
Mark Kennedy was due back in training on Thursday after his calf problem but is unlikely to be involved, while Lee Martin will probably miss out having picked up an eye problem while playing golf, although Jewell doesn’t think it’s a serious issue: "He’s worked hard in training Lee and hopefully this will just be a minor setback.”
Brighton, who dramatically lost their home derby with Crystal Palace 3-1 having been a goal up with 10 minutes to go last week, haven’t won for four games in all competitions, but manager Gus Poyet says they are a better side than their current form: "We are not a terrible team because of the last few results.
"I'm just looking for us to defend better by being more solid at the back, and then we will win football games. We are only two points from the top.
"If the players cannot get the defeats out of their system they will be out of this football club. It's simple. If they cannot move on they are not good enough for us.
"I want to know why we see one Brighton team in the second half when we are losing and another team when we are winning. That's down to the mentality of the players. We need to be a team for the whole game and we have not done that for a few matches now.”
The Uruguayan, who along with assistant Taricco has signed a five-year contract, is looking forward to taking on the Blues: "Playing at Ipswich is a great game for us to play and it's another very difficult place to go and play football.
"The most important thing is that we need to keep playing football for the full 95 minutes. My team needs to play football, but if they stop playing they have got to be solid at the back.
"Ipswich will be up near the top, so it's another important game for us. They have got plenty of experience and youth in their team and they have got a chance if they keep everyone fit."
The Seagulls, who are fifth in the table, seven places and four points above the Blues, will be without central defender Lewis Dunk who has already picked up his fifth booking of the season. Steve Cook or Romain Vincelot will deputise.
Winger Will Buckley is recovering from a hamstring problem, while Adam El-Abd (foot) and Tommy Elphick (Achilles) are on their way back after lengthy absences. Blues legend Mauricio Taricco is included in the Seagulls squad.
Historically, Town have the upper hand, having won 26 games (23 in the league) between the sides, Brighton 20 (18) and with 12 (11) ending in draws.
The Seagulls won the last meeting, defeating the Blues 2-1 at Portman Road in April 2006 as the Sussex side were relegated to League One.
Gifton Noel-Williams put the visitors in front against the run of play, but with the Blues failing to show after the break, Joel Lynch added a second before Nicky Forster, who would join Brighton later in his career, headed a consolation.
In the away fixture in the preceding October, Sam Parkin's fifth and final away goal of the season (and of his Town career) took the Blues to a 1-1 draw at the Withdean Stadium. Parkin struck on 39, Dean Hammond having put the Seagulls in front earlier in the half.
Both assistant managers have represented the club they face on Saturday as full-backs. Town’s Chris Hutchings was with the Seagulls between 1983 and 1987, while Albion’s assistant Mauricio Taricco is the only man in either current playing squad to have played for the opposition.
The 38-year-old, who has made two of his eight Brighton appearances this season, was with the Blues between September 1994 and November 1998, scoring seven goals in 169 starts and three sub appearances before leaving for Spurs for £1.775 million.
Prior to the game a collection is being taken on behalf of the Suffolk Group of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) outside the ground.
Fans travelling to the match on the A12 are warned that they could face delays near Colchester due to roadworks.
An online version of Saturday's matchday programme, and all the others throughout the season, is available via the club from here.
Saturday’s referee is Darren Deadman from Peterborough, who has shown a possibly excessive 44 yellow cards — eight in one game and nine in another - and three reds in 10 matches so far this season.
Deadman’s most recent Town game was the 0-0 draw at Leeds last season in which he booked two players from each side. He previous Town match also ended goalless, the Portman Road stalemate between the Blues and Plymouth in January 2009 when Gareth McAuley and two Pilgrims were cautioned.
Probable Town squad: Stockdale, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Cresswell, Sonko, Collins, Wabara, Ainsley, Delaney, Bullard, Andrews, Bowyer, Leadbitter, Emmanuel-Thomas, Chopra, Scotland, Ellington.
Brighton: Ankergren, Brezovan, Poke, Calderon, Taricco, Vincelot, Painter, Cook, Greer, Kasim, Bridcutt, Noone, Vicente, LuaLua, Dicker, Harley, Sparrow, Navarro, Hoskins, Mackail-Smith, Barnes.