Town boss Paul Jewell looks set to name an unchanged side for this evening’s game against Championship leaders Southampton at St Mary’s. The Blues will be looking to avenge the Saints’ 5-2 victory at Portman Road earlier in the season.
On-loan Reading keeper Alex McCarthy had a largely quiet game against Bristol City but made an important first half save from Robins defender Liam Fontaine when it was required. The 22-year-old will keep his place with Arran Lee-Barrett again on the bench.
Carlos Edwards will continue as skipper in his now familiar right-back role with Aaron Cresswell on the left and Tommy Smith and Damien Delaney in the centre of the defence.
In midfield, Grant Leadbitter impressed against the Robins and is again likely to keep Luke Hyam out of the side. The increasingly influential Andy Drury will take the other central position with Daryl Murphy on the left and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the right.
Ryan Stevenson made his Town debut as a sub on Saturday and is again likely to be on the bench with Jimmy Bullard the only member of Jewell’s squad unavailable having been suspended from the club for two weeks.
Lee Martin will play just behind lone out-and-out striker Michael Chopra, who will be looking to add to his six goals in his last six games.
In order to do that he’ll have to beat ex-Blues keeper Kelvin Davis, who Jewell says was in exceptional form in the Saints’ 1-0 win at Leeds: "I’ve watched the tape of their game against Leeds on Saturday and the goalkeeper was outstanding, some of the saves Kelvin Davis made were fantastic.”
Despite winning 3-0 on Saturday, the Town boss felt his team ought to have taken more of their chances, although he wouldn’t mind making similar comments in the same circumstances tonight:
"I’d like to be saying to you after the game that we won 3-0 against Southampton but that we’re still not clinical enough.
"I think there are only four or five teams in the league who have scored more goals than us but we’ve got the worst defensive record in the league, so it’s obvious we need to do better from that point of view, as a team, not just as individuals.
"We had 30 crosses and 26 shots on Saturday, it was a complete domination and 3-0 didn’t flatter us.”
Jewell says Southampton are very impressive at St Mary’s: "I’ve never taken a team there, although I’ve been there to watch a game. They’ve had a fantastic home record, a great record full stop, not just this season but from the back end of last season as well. They have that momentum that’s taken them into this season.
"We’ve got to be brave, we’ve got to be positive, we’ve also got to be aware of their strengths and try and exploit their weaknesses, like everyone does with us.
"We’ve done our homework. We’ve watched videos of them and made players aware of their strengths but at the same time we’ve got some good players in our team who are on good form at the moment and we want to try and be positive in the way we approach the game.”
Saints boss Nigel Adkins is expecting a tough week with Barnsley following Town to St Mary’s on Saturday: "Ipswich have won five of their last six so they are in a very rich vein of form, and Barnsley play some really good football, so we are well aware that they are two games that we have to be at the top of our game for and strive to get the maximum amount of points.
"As long as everyone keeps supporting each other we will be OK. There are no easy games in this division, Ipswich are in a rich vein of form, as we are, so it should be a great game and I hope the fans come out and get behind the players all the way to the end.
"We played some really good football at their place and won 5-2 on the evening and the players played really well. As we all know, this will be a totally different situation, so we will take it on the merits that exist."
Attacking midfielder Adam Lallana could be back from a groin injury, while left-back Danny Fox is a doubt, also due to a groin problem. Ex-Blue Dan Harding will deputise if he fails to make it. Defender Dan Seaborne is the only long-term absentee due to a head injury.
Historically, the Blues just have the edge, winning 25 games (24 in the league) between the sides, losing 22 (17) and drawing 18 (18).
In August, Paul Jewell’s Town fell to a third home defeat in a week as an impressive Southampton side left Portman Road with a 5-2 win.
The Saints were 3-0 in front at the break through Rickie Lambert (2) and David Connolly, however, Town fought back to 3-2 via Keith Andrews and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, but Adam Lallana added two more late on to seal a deserved victory for the visitors.
The teams met most recently in Hampshire in January 2010 in a fourth round FA Cup tie at St Mary’s when the then-League One side ran out 2-1 victors.
Wayne Thomas lashed home from distance before Michail Antonio added to their lead, with Pablo Couñago pulling one back for the Blues in the final minute.
Town were last in league action in Southampton in September 2008 when the teams drew 2-2 in a bit of a rip-roarer. Goals from Saints Andrew Surman and Tomas Peckhart sandwiched strikes by Town’s Owen Garvan and Alan Quinn.
Southampton’s squad contains former Blues Kelvin Davis and Dan Harding, while Davis’s deputy Bartosz Bialkowski spent time on loan with Town during the 2008/09 season without making a first team appearance.
Another glovesman, Richard Wright is the only current Blue to have been with the Saints, making seven appearances on loan from West Ham in 2007/08 while Blues keeper-coach Malcolm Webster was working at St Mary’s during ex-Town boss George Burley’s time as manager there.
Tonight’s referee is Darren Drysdale from Lincolnshire, who has shown 33 yellow and three red cards in 74 matches so far this season. Drysdale’s most recent Town match was the 1-1 draw at Leicester on Boxing Day in which he awarded a penalty to each side - Michael Chopra missing the Blues’ spotkick in the opening minute — and booked only Ibrahima Sonko and Lee Martin.
Squad from: Lee-Barrett, McCarthy, Edwards, Cresswell, Smith, Delaney, Sonko, Drury, Hyam, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Carson, Martin, Chopra, Scotland.