Manager Mick McCarthy has selection dilemmas ahead of Saturday’s game at Derby County. After the 3-0 home victory over Leeds, the Blues boss made five changes to his more regular line-up for Monday’s 0-0 draw at Millwall.
McCarthy says the reshuffle was down to the Lions having had an additional day to prepare for the game having played their previous match on the Friday: "I wasn’t thinking about Derby, I was thinking about Millwall because they had the extra day’s rest, and it does have an effect.
"I remember looking back earlier in the season when we played in quick succession and I thought about changing it. I forget which game it was, but I just thought we were a bit dull and lifeless, which you’re bound to be when the other team had the extra day.
"I thought I’d freshen it up, have fresh legs and I’m pleased that I did because it was a tough game. It wasn’t Derby I had in mind, it was dealing with Millwall.”
Despite the changes, five outfield players and keeper Scott Loach still started both matches but their manager says they suffered no ill effects: Yeah, no problem. The back four and the goalkeeper, they wouldn’t be doing as much.
"Luke Hyam was running on vapour at the end of game. But his fitness levels are awesome, to be fair. He’s fine, he’s training just like he always does today. He’ll be OK and the rest of them are fine.”
McCarthy says 20th-placed Derby’s sudden conversion from relegation possibles to play-off hopefuls illustrates the tightness of the division: "It’s strange because up until they beat Leeds [2-1 on Monday] they were in the relegation battle, although they might not have thought so.
"What have they got? 54 points? So, they would have been on 51 if they’d been beaten and we'd be one point behind them.
"So, they’ve got 54 and suddenly the chat is that they’re for the play-offs. They’ve won three games on the bounce which is a good set of results and look how much it’s pushed them up the league.
"Prior to that, they hadn’t won in eight, which is just the barmy, bonkers Championship - they don’t win in eight, then they win three on the bounce and they’re talking about the play-offs.”
He’s been impressed with what he’s seen of Nigel Clough’s side: "They’re a solid team. I don’t know how they’d been playing prior to the games I watched. They play 4-4-2 and the two strikers, Conor Sammon and Chris Martin, work really hard.
"In midfield there are two sitters, no real wingers as such, although Jamie Ward is, who was at Sheffield United at Chesterfield.
"They’re very solid, very hard to break down, they drop off, defend deep, defend as a team. I saw a bit of their Leeds game the other day and I’ve just watched them against Bristol City and Leicester, which were two impressive performances.”
Given that Town have scored just once on the road in the league since the turn of the year, McCarthy admits a goal-fest seems unlikely, but he says he wouldn’t be unhappy if it was as long as the Blues got something out of it: "I don’t think so, but I’ll take it if it is. It’s still a point, 4-4!
"You just don’t know in this league. It can open up, somebody scores and you have to change it and it can open, it can have a real effect on the game.
"But it’ll be two teams who both work very hard for each other. They’re really solid and look workmanlike, there’s a bit of quality in [their side] and they’ve got something to play for now as well, having just had three wins on the bounce. They’ve got a bit of momentum going.”
McCarthy admits doesn't recall the Championship being as close as it is this year: "It’s the tightest I’ve ever seen it. You watch it and probably take more notice than I do, but it’s the tightest I’ve ever seen it.”
A league table based on fixtures from November 1st when McCarthy was appointed would see the Blues sitting fourth, but he insists there’s only one table he’s interested in: "It doesn’t really bother me. I think I’d just settle for finishing 21st, finishing still in the Championship.
"I’m not bothered about my league position from November, that doesn’t matter, it’s league position on May 4th that’s vital to us.”
The Blues back five, which kept back to back clean sheets over Easter, looks set to be unchanged with Scott Loach in goal, Aaron Cresswell at left-back, Richard Stearman on the right and Luke Chambers and Tommy Smith in the centre.
In midfield, McCarthy may well stick with Luke Hyam and Guirane N’Daw in the centre despite Andy Drury recovering from the groin strain which saw him left out of the 18 at the Den.
Out wide, skipper Carlos Edwards could come back in place of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, while Jay Tabb seems likely to return on the left, particularly with Lee Martin one of three players to have been suffering with a bug, with Aaron Mclean and Reece Brown the other two.
Up front, David McGoldrick will play the final game of his loan spell from Nottingham Forest, while McCarthy could continue with Frank Nouble alongside him, the former Wolves man having again impressed at Millwall.
Derby boss Nigel Clough hasn’t entirely given up hope on reaching the play-offs given the tightness of the division, but admits they're outsiders: "I don't think there is any other league in the world that has only 14 points between the top six and the bottom three.
"That means anything is possible in this league. But we also know that we recently went eight games without a win.
"So, let's get safe. Let's get over that 60 points mark, that would be a great achievement, and go from there.
"There is an opportunity for a top-10 finish. Top six? Realistically, those above us have to start winning at some point and to make up two wins and more in six games is an awful lot to ask. But we will give it a go."
Derby will give Jamie Ward and midfielder Craig Bryson late fitness tests ahead of the game. Ward, the Rams’ 12-goal top scorer, missed their 2-1 victory at Leeds on Monday with a hamstring problem, while Bryson went off in the first half with a groin injury.
Historically, Town have had the better of Derby, winning 31 games (29 in the league), drawing 19 (17) and losing 24 (23).
In October Paul Jewell’s time as Town manager was brought to an end the day after the Blues were beaten 2-1 by his old club at Portman Road.
It was the second time in four days that his side had suffered a last-minute defeat after being ahead, the same thing having happened at Hull City on the preceding Saturday.
Town were deservedly went in front against the Rams after DJ Campbell claimed the second goal of his loan spell, but Theo Robinson equalised before the break and sub Nathan Tyson netted the late winner.
Last time at Pride Park in April, both sides hit the post in the second half as they played out a 0-0 draw. Ben Davies struck the woodwork for the Rams, then Emmanuel-Thomas did the same for the Blues a few minutes later.
Rams centre-half Richard Keogh was an academy schoolboy and Portman Road ballboy during his formative years, but no current member of either squad has previously represented Saturday’s opposition.
Derby have announced that there will be a minute’s silence before the match in memory of Duwayne, Jade, John, Jack, Jesse and Jayden Philpott, the children who died in last May’s house fire in Victory Road, Derby.
Saturday’s referee is Eddie Ilderton from Tyne and Wear, who has shown 88 yellow cards and four red in 29 games so far this season. Ilderton’s most recent Town game was the 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff in October, in which he booked only Andy Drury.
Squad from: Loach, Lee-Barrett, Stearman, Hewitt, Cresswell, Mings, Chambers, Smith, Kisnorbo, R Brown, N’Daw, Drury, Hyam, Wordsworth, Tabb, Martin, Edwards, Emmanuel-Thomas, McGoldrick, Murphy, Nouble, Chopra, Mclean.