Boss Mick McCarthy will hand Elliott Hewitt his first Town league start and new loanee Jay Tabb looks set to make his Blues debut in Saturday’s vital relegation six-pointer at Peterborough United. Michael Chopra joins the suspended Lee Martin and Richard Stearman on the sidelines due to a dead leg, but skipper Carlos Edwards and midfielder Jay Emmanuel-Thomas return to the squad after missing the midweek trip to Nottingham Forest.
McCarthy says he decided to add Tabb to his squad having lost the suspended Lee Martin and Anthony Wordsworth, who is out for the season with three cracked vertebrae: "First and foremost because I’ve lost Anthony Wordsworth with a fractured spine and Lee Martin with a three-match ban.
"I just felt I needed a player for that position, a left-sided player which we actually don’t have.
"I know Jay’s left-footed, but he prefers playing on the right side or drifting in out of the middle of the park, and he’s an experienced campaigner.
"He’s a good player, but he’s a really good pro and he can play anywhere along that middle four.
"Technically, he’s very good, he’s very industrious, hard-working, so he’ll fit in with our lads no problem.
"He has actually got a goal in him. He’s not the biggest but he’s one of those that punches well above his weight.
"He’s been a good pro for all the clubs he’s played for and he was involved with Reading’s promotion push last season.
The Blues boss says that if all goes well the move could become a permanent one in the summer: "Jay’s out of contract [at the end of June] and if we like him and he likes us, it’s always the same. But there’s more than my opinion in it.
"It’s 28 days, we can extend that after the deadline because he’s now our player for 28 days on an emergency loan.”
McCarthy says that if the spell is extended until the end of the season he would expect the Royals to include a recall clause, something which isn’t available to them for the first month.
The 29-year-old’s involvement with Reading has been limited this season, but McCarthy is unconcerned by his lack of games: "He’s as fit as a flea. He’s a really industrious left midfield player, whether he’s playing wide left or tucked in. His fitness levels are fine.”
Regarding the rest of his squad, he says skipper Carlos Edwards should be fine having missed the 1-0 defeat at Forest with a groin injury, while Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is over the bug that led to his absence at the City Ground: "Carlos is all right, he’s trained today and if there’s no reaction he’ll be OK. Jay is fine, he’s fit, he was just poorly.”
However, he will have to make another enforced change with one of his strikers having picked up a knock: "Michael Chopra’s got a really bad dead leg, so he’s unavailable.”
David McGoldrick is back having been unavailable against his parent club Forest on Tuesday and looks set to start up front alongside Daryl Murphy in Chopra's absence.
In midfield, Edwards seems likely to return to his right-sided role with debutant Tabb on the left with Martin suspended and Guirane N’Daw and Luke Hyam in the centre.
At the back, McCarthy has confirmed that Hewitt will come in for Stearman, who misses one game after picking up two yellow cards at the City Ground: "Elliott Hewitt’s playing. He’s been banging at the door for his game and I thought he did really well [on Tuesday], despite us only playing one in front. He’s been doing great, so we’ll see how he does.”
Hewitt previously started the FA Cup tie at Aston Villa and has made three sub appearances in the league for the Blues, in addition to 20 senior starts and five sub appearances for his previously club Macclesfield.
Aaron Cresswell will be on the left of the defence and Tommy Smith and Luke Chambers in the centre.
Reece Brown would appear likely to miss out on a place on the bench with seven domestic loanees now at the club and only five permitted in a matchday squad. The suspended Stearman is on loan from Wolves.
Posh boss Darren Ferguson is under no illusions how important beating the Blues is in the context of his club’s relegation battle: "A win tomorrow would bring Ipswich to within two points and we would still have a game in hand, so it’s vital that we collect three points. Getting to 40 points with 10 games still to go would be a real boost for us all.
"Obviously it won’t be easy as any team managed by Mick McCarthy will be hard to beat and they have been playing well.
"They were very good when beating Leicester last week and they played very well again at Forest this week where they had two men sent off and yet were still hard to break down.
"We will have to be very patient tomorrow as Ipswich will be well organised. They’ve also got real threats in David McGoldrick and Michael Chopra.
"But as always how we play will determine how we get on. In every game we play it’s vital that we keep hold of the ball because if we enjoy a lot of possession we will create chances.”
Centre-half Gaby Zakuani is expected to play despite a shoulder problem, while midfielder Davide Petrucci (hamstring) and left-back Kgosi Ntlhe (ankle) could be back in contention for places in the 18.
Former Blues loan striker Tyrone Barnett is also very much in Ferguson’s thoughts having recently returned to action after the knee injury which curtailed his spell at Portman Road: "Tyrone will definitely be involved whether it’s as a substitute or a starter.
"He offers us something different, but if he plays it will be all about finding the right service for him.
"I don’t want us to start lumping the ball up to him. He needs long, diagonal balls or accurate crosses because he is so dangerous in the air. The header he delivered which led to a goal for the reserves was an awesome effort.
"Tyrone’s attitude since he returned to the club has been excellent. He knows he must prepare and play the right way and if he does that he could have a future with us beyond the end of this season.”
In August 2011 at London Road, Town had two players sent off in the same match for the first time ever as Peterborough came from behind to win 7-1.
Lee Martin and sub Tommy Smith — who had been on the field for less than a minute - saw red either side of half-time after Keith Andrews had put the Blues in front only for Lee Tomlin (3), currently injured Town striker Paul Taylor (2) and Grant McCann (2) to see Posh to their biggest ever win at Championship level.
Overall, Posh have the upper hand, winning five times (two in the league), three matches ending in draws (two) and the Blues winning on two occasions (once in the league). Town have never won at London Road in the league with their only victory there a 2-0 win in an FA Cup tie in 1972.
Taylor joined Town from Posh for an initial £1.5 million in August, while fellow frontman Tyrone Barnett was on loan with the Blues earlier in the season before suffering a knee injury.
On-loan striker Aaron Mclean spent just over four years at London Road between 2006 and 2010, scoring 83 goals in 178 starts and nine substitute appearances.
Academy director Bryan Klug was a player with Peterborough between 1984 and 1985, while Malcolm Webster at one time coached the keepers at London Road.
Saturday’s referee is James Linington from Newport, who has shown 13 yellow cards and no reds in seven games so far this season.
Linington's most recent Town match was the 1-0 home victory over Burnley last season in which former skipper Grant Leadbitter was sent off after picking up two yellow cards, while Lee Martin was the only other player to pick up a caution.
Squad from: Henderson, Loach, Hewitt, Cresswell, Mings, Kisnorbo, Chambers, Smith, Brown, N’Daw, Drury, Hyam, Tabb, Edwards, Emmanuel-Thomas, Carson, McGoldrick, Murphy, Mclean, Nouble.