Town boss Mick McCarthy has revealed that he’ll make changes to his team for Saturday’s final game of the season at Burnley. The Blues secured their place in the Championship for the 2013/14 campaign by beating Birmingham 3-1 at Portman Road last weekend.
McCarthy says there are no new injuries with only the longer term absentees unavailable for the trip to Turf Moor.
"Everybody’s fine, there’s only Paul Taylor and Josh Carson out of the whole squad who aren’t fit,” he said, with Taylor still recovering from foot surgery and Carson from a broken toe sustained while on loan at York.
The Blues boss plans to tinker with his side against the Clarets, who are also safe, but wouldn't be drawn into giving any details: "There’ll be no change in formation in terms of 4-4-2, but there will be some differences in the team. I will make some changes.”
Those who have been on the fringes recently such as Michael Chopra, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Aaron Mclean, Andy Drury, Patrick Kisnorbo and Reece Brown will be hoping for some involvement, while Richard Stearman could come back in after missing out last week with a hamstring injury. Youngsters such as Jack Marriott could be included in the 18 for the first time and Tyrone Mings could be handed a debut.
With Town’s Championship status confirmed, he admits that training has lacked its usual intensity this week: "Without a doubt, it’s hard to keep banging those nails in.
"We want to win on Saturday but the reality is that from November 1st when I came in to last Saturday the whole goal was to stay in the league, so it’s really difficult not to say ‘Thank goodness for that’ and breathe a sigh of relief.
"But that said, training’s been good, it’s been bubbly, it’s been relaxed, had relief around it.
"They’ve trained well and we all know there’s one game to play and we want to be professional and make sure we do it correctly and go about the job right and not finish the season on a sour note.”