Town will be looking to complete their first double of the season when Championship leaders West Ham visit Portman Road this evening. Paul Jewell's Blues beat the Hammers 1-0 at Upton Park during their six-game unbeaten run earlier in the season.
Since that spell which took them briefly into the play-off places, there have been few high spots and Jewell admits that his side, who are without a win in seven games, go into tonight’s match in a very different frame of mind: "We were playing well, we were full of confidence at that time and I think Sam Allardyce said we were the best team West Ham had played all season.
"We’re not at that level of performance at the moment. There were a lot of plus points against Blackpool and we were in complete control of the game against Leeds until our goalie got sent off.
"We’ve got to try and look forward and get amongst West Ham. Hopefully it’ll be a terrific atmosphere under lights at Portman Road and we’ve got to believe we can win the game.”
He says his side have to learn to be more consistent throughout games: "Plenty of times this season we’ve exceptional in one half and not very good in the next. Or we’ve been very good for 80 minutes and in the last 10 minutes or in injury time we’ve cost ourselves goals.
"We’d be fourth in the table if every time we'd taken the lead we'd kept it. But the only stat that counts is where we are in the league at the moment and after 46 games we don’t want to be anywhere near the bottom.”
Jewell knows Hammers boss Same Allardyce well, having faced one another as players as well as managers with various clubs: "Me and Sam go back a long way. We’ve been round the block and I’ve got huge respect for him and the job he’s done.
"He’s taken a bit of flak at times, but he’s a big fella and it looks like he’s going to take West Ham straight back up.”
Having been pleased with the overall performances against Leeds and Blackpool, Jewell is unlikely to stray too far from the core of that team — any last-minute currently unexpected exits aside. Any incoming loan signings will be available as long as everything is sorted three hours before kick-off but realistically probably wouldn’t be involved in any case. It’s now too late to register permanent signings in time.
Arran Lee-Barrett will take over in goal from the suspended Alex McCarthy with Richard Wright back from his trial at Dallas and on the bench.
Carlos Edwards and Aaron Cresswell will be the full-backs with Ibrahima Sonko and Tommy Smith probably the central defenders with Damien Delaney fit but probably more likely to be on the bench.
In midfield, Andy Drury was the Blues’ top performer at Leeds and is likely to keep his place in one of the central roles. Skipper Grant Leadbitter is over his hip injury and could come in for Luke Hyam to add experience to the side. Ex-Hammer Lee Bowyer misses out with his groin problem.
Daryl Murphy will probably be preferred to Josh Carson wide on the left with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the right and Lee Martin in his role behind Jason Scotland.
New signing Ryan Stevenson is unlikely to be involved due to his lack of match fitness, having not played for Hearts since December 17th. A place on the bench might not be entirely out of the question, however.
Hammers boss Allardyce is surprised that Town are struggling: "I can't believe how they're doing, knowing Paul as well as I do and remembering how good his team was when they played at the Boleyn Ground that night.
"I thought they would go on to bigger and better things with the amount of experience they had in the team that night.
"For one reason or another they've lost their momentum and they've slipped away. Ipswich are obviously good at freescoring but they're not so good at keeping them out of the back of net.
"That's probably been Paul's problem - scoring goals but not having the resilience of not conceding them."
The former Bolton boss says West Ham’s transfer manoeuvrings will continue even though he’ll be away from the club: "It could be difficult but I think but we have everybody in place.
"We have Andrew Pincher, our club secretary, who does all the paperwork and gets the contracts in place, and David Sullivan is very active in negotiations.
"Then we have Martin Glover who is our head of recruitment and is the lad who pulls it all together in terms of whether it's going to get done or not.
"Everything gets agreed through them with me kept in the loop on the mobile. You can be where you want on the end of an email wherever nowadays, which really helps.
"I may choose to go down to Ipswich a little later on Tuesday but I have prepared the team and picked the team and told them I expect them to go there and continue our very good away record.
"After having an extra few days off they should be itching to get back on the pitch and get playing again."
Midfielder Papa Bouba Diop is a doubt with a hamstring problem, but defender Guy Demel could be back from a thigh injury. Former Portsmouth man Matt Taylor could also return after a calf niggle.
West Ham midfielder Mark Noble spent time on loan with the Blues during the 2006/07 season, scoring one goal in 12 start and one sub appearance.
His cousin, Lee Bowyer, was at Upton Park between January and July 2003 and again from June 2006 to July 2009, while boyhood Hammers fan Jimmy Bullard was a youngster with his local club but was released without playing a senior game.
Richard Wright spent the 2007/08 season with the Hammers but made only three appearances in the Carling Cup before returning to the Blues for his second spell.
Historically, West Ham have had the better of it, the Blues winning 20 games between the sides (20 in the league), the Hammers 27 (24) and 20 (17) ending in draws.
Earlier in the season, ex-Hammer Bowyer netted his first competitive goal for the Blues a minute from time as Town left Upton Park with a deserved 1-0 victory.
The veteran midfielder had struck the woodwork in a first half largely dominated by the Blues with Michael Chopra also going close.
The last competitive match between the sides at Portman Road was a 2004/05 play-off semi-final second leg when two second half goals from Bobby Zamora saw Alan Pardew’s men to a 2-0 victory at to take the tie 4-2 on aggregate, the game at Upton Park having ended 2-2.
Earlier that season, Town's 17-match home unbeaten run stretching back to April 2004 had ended as West Ham left Portman Road with a 2-0 win. Keeper Kelvin Davis gifted the first to former Blues loanee Marlon Harewood in the opening minute, the second goal coming from Matthew Etherington in the final minute of normal time.
Fans should note that there will be no cash turnstiles tonight but that tickets are available from the Ticket Office to those already on the club’s database.
The Supporters Trust will be collecting signatures for their petition calling on the club to opt for Category One Academy status by the statue of Sir Alf before kick-off.
Tuesday’s referee is Philip Gibbs from Birmingham, who has shown 89 yellow and four red cards in 28 matches so far this season. Gibbs’s only previous Town match was the 2-1 defeat at Barnsley in October 2009 in which he booked Grant Leadbitter, Jaime Peters, Tamás Priskin and one home player.
Squad from: Lee-Barrett, Wright, Edwards, Cresswell, Ainsley, Sonko, Smith, Delaney, Drury, Leadbitter, Hyam, Bullard, Stevenson, Murphy, Emmanuel-Thomas, Carson, Martin, Scotland, Chopra, Ellington.