Town boss Paul Jewell will have to decide which one of his six domestic loanees to leave out of his matchday 18 for Saturday’s game at Hull City. Football League rules permit clubs to name only five in a squad.
While the Blues have eight loanees in total — plus Nigel Reo-Coker on a short-term deal — Daryl Murphy and Guirane N’Daw don’t count to the five as their parent clubs, Celtic and St Etienne, are from 'foreign' associations.
Season-long loanee from Tottenham Massimo Luongo looks likely to be the unlucky sixth man missing out with Jewell having plenty of other central midfield options at present.
The Town boss, who has only Paul Taylor and Elliott Hewitt unavailable, will have to assess which of his more recent signings will start.
Stephen Henderson, who joined on a three-month loan spell from West Ham on Tuesday, is a shoo-in to take over from Scott Loach in goal, while the backline will almost certainly be, from the left, Aaron Cresswell, Danny Higginbotham, Luke Chambers and skipper Carlos Edwards.
In midfield, Jewell will have to decide whether Nigel Reo-Coker is fit enough to start alongside Richie Wellens in the centre. If not, the man on loan for a month from Leicester will probably partner Andy Drury with Reo-Coker taking over later on.
However, it would be a surprise if the former Wimbledon, West Ham, Aston Villa and Bolton man wasn’t handed his debut from the start.
Daryl Murphy is likely to be on the left with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas probably on the right if the Blues boss sticks to his usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Lee Martin behind the lone striker, DJ Campbell appearing certain to keep his place up front.
If he switches to 4-4-2, Martin could take the wide role from Emmanuel-Thomas with Michael Chopra, who was left out of the Cardiff game as his head wasn’t thought to be in the right place due to his off-field issues, returning to the team alongside Campbell. However, it’s likely Jewell will stay with his regular system despite the influx of new signings.
Competition is rife for places on the bench since the new arrivals with the Blues boss having to decide whether to include Scott Loach in the 18 or give Arran Lee-Barrett his regular spot amongst the subs.
Bilel Mohsni looks likely to get a place due to his ability to play pretty much everywhere, which may mean centre-half Tommy Smith is left out of the squad. The 22-year-old was only due back from New Zealand after a 34-hour trip this morning.
Jewell says he and Hull boss Steve Bruce have known one another for some time: "Steve and I go back a long time, to when I scored against him when he was at Norwich in the FA Cup.
"He won’t remember that as he played in slightly bigger games than that! Wigan knocked Norwich out of the FA Cup on a frosty pitch at Springfield Park and my shot went in off Brucey.”
He has a lot of time for the ex-Manchester United man, both as a centre-half and since he’s moved into management: "He had a fantastic career as a player, he was one of the unluckiest never to play for England, but he won every honour as a player, certainly domestically.
"He’s had a lot of managerial jobs and he’s always done well. He’s keen as mustard and is a good guy too.
"I think the job he did at Wigan was underestimated [as well as the job he did at Sunderland]. He was at Huddersfield, Sheffield United, he’s had an awful lot of clubs, Birmingham, and his teams are always hard to beat.”
Doing precisely that is the task on Saturday with Town without a victory in nine games in all competitions.
Jewell admits that a win is badly needed against an up and down Hull side: "We’d love three points.
"Hull went to Leeds and won convincingly, then they lost at home to Peterborough, then they lost at home to Blackpool, then they went and beat Sheffield Wednesday away from home.
"We need three points, it’s very important. But there are a lot of points to play for, we’re in a horrible situation and we’ve got to find a way of getting out of it.
"If we get beaten on Saturday it doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the world. If we win Saturday it doesn’t mean we’ve turned a corner. There’s a lot of football to be played yet.”
Hull central defender James Chester (hamstring) and full-back Joe Dudgeon (knee) are back in contention, but ex-Blue Alex Bruce is likely to miss out with a groin problem, while midfielder Robert Koren is definitely sidelined with a torn calf.
Keeper Ben Amos, defender Paul McShane and midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady are back from international duty without picking up injuries, while striker Jay Simpson is fine after sustaining a minor knock in the 1-0 win at Wednesday a fortnight ago.
Striker Matty Fryatt is another absentee and will be assessed over the next few days before a decision is made on whether he’ll require Achilles’ surgery.
Tigers boss Steve Bruce says he’s amazed that Town are down in 23rd given the squad and the quality of the performances he’s seen: "They’ve had a bit of a struggle so far, but I look at them on paper and I’ve seen them live recently and I think ‘how on earth are they near the bottom of the league?’.
"I saw them against Cardiff in their last game and for 75 minutes they were easily the better team. You look down their squad list and see DJ Campbell, Michael Chopra, Daryl Murphy, Nigel Reo-Coker has just joined them, Richie Wellens has gone there and the goalkeeper on loan from West Ham. You look through them and know it’s going to be a tough game on Saturday.
"They won’t want to be in that bottom three for any length of time and as we’ve seen already, there are no easy games in this division.”
While no current Blues player has featured for the Tigers, Liam Rosenior was on loan with Town from Reading during 2009/10, while Alex Bruce was at Portman Road between August 2006 and August 2010, making 123 starts and four sub appearances and scoring three times.
Hull keeper Eldin Jakupović was briefly on trial at Playford Road in the summer before joining the Tigers, who he had spent time with at the end of last season. The Swiss international is yet to make a first team appearance. Midfielder Stephen Quinn is the younger brother of former Blue Alan.
The Tigers' assistant manager is Keith Bertschin, who was a striker with the Blues between 1973 and 1977, famously scoring a goal with his first touch in senior football after coming on as a sub in a 2-1 away win at Arsenal in April 1976. He was a member of the 1975 FA Youth Cup-winning team.
Historically, Hull just have the edge on the Blues having won 11 of the games between the teams (10 in the league), while Town have been victorious eight times (eight) and a further 10 (10) matches have been draws. Bruce’s side sit in 10th in the Championship, 13 places and nine points ahead of the Blues.
In March, Grant Leadbitter netted two goals in four second half minutes as Town came from behind to draw 2-2 on their most recent visit to the KC Stadium.
The former skipper converted a penalty and then hammered home from the edge of the box after Robbie Brady and Robert Koren had looked to have won the game for the home side.
In January, Town’s 2011/12 FA Cup campaign came to an end at the third round stage as the Blues lost 3-1 at Hull.
The home side were 2-0 in front at the break via Aaron Mclean and Tom Cairney before half-time sub Jason Scotland pulled one back for Town, but Cameron Stewart sealed the Tigers’ place in round four in injury time.
In August of last year, Matty Fryatt’s second half goal was enough to give Hull a 1-0 league victory over the Blues at Portman Road.
Town had the better of a first period in which ex-Tiger Damien Delaney had hit the bar, but the visitors improved after the break with Fryatt making the most of a defensive lapse with 14 minutes remaining.
All away supporters are welcome at the New Walton Club, which is a five-minute walk from the KC Stadium, for pre-match drinks.
Saturday’s referee is David Coote from Nottingham, who will be taking charge of the Blues for the first time. Coote has shown 27 yellow and two red cards in nine games so far this season.
Squad from: Henderson, Lee-Barrett, Loach, Edwards, Cresswell, Ainsley, Higginbotham, Chambers, Smith, Mohsni, Reo-Coker, Wellens, Drury, N’Daw, Luongo, Hyam, Murphy, Emmanuel-Thomas, Martin, Carson, Campbell, Chopra, Scotland.