Veteran striker Alan Lee and youngster Jack Marriott are both included in Mick McCarthy’s 20-man squad ahead of Saturday’s home game against Brighton with one of them set to take the place of the on-loan Paul Taylor on the bench. The Blues boss seems likely to name an unchanged team against the Seagulls.
McCarthy has a fully fit squad, although young left-back Tyrone Mings won’t be included as he’s with the U21s at West Ham today having recovered from the knee injury he suffered on the opening day of the season
"They’re all alright, Ty Mings has gone to play with the U21s today just to get him 90 minutes,” McCarthy said.
"He’s fit and training well. He won’t be involved tomorrow, but he’ll be fit to be involved in the two games [at Derby and Sheffield Wednesday]. Everybody else is fine.”
Regarding Taylor’s replacement as the fourth striker in the matchday 18, McCarthy has a choice between experience, in the shape of 35-year-old Alan Lee, back at the club mainly to coach in the academy but on non-contract terms, and youth, in the form of 19-year-old first-year pro Jack Marriott, who made his debut as a sub on the final day of last season at Burnley.
"They’re both in the squad, Jack and Alan,” the Blues boss revealed. "I’ve got 20 in the squad at the moment, they’ll both be available for selection.
"I’m delighted with Jack, really pleased with him and that’s one of the reasons I was happy to let Tayls go out.
"He’s unproven, but unless he gets an opportunity to be in the squad and be around us, we’ll never know, will we?
"To be fair, he is a little Johnny-on-the-spot, or perhaps I should say Jackie-on-the-spot, he has got an eye for goal, even when the team’s not playing well, even when he might not be playing particularly well, he always gets a chance, as he did at Burnley.
"He came on, started, didn’t look like a bag of nerves and he had one good shot which the keeper had to save and a great header from a freekick. We hope he’s a goalscorer, and he is because he does it in training and in the U21s.”
Aside from Marriott or Lee being added to the bench, McCarthy seems likely to stick with the rest of the 18 which really ought to have beaten Wigan last week.
The Blues boss has confirmed that Dean Gerken will keep his place in goal despite his error for the Latics’ second at the DW Stadium.
Luke Chambers will continue to wear the armband at right-back with Aaron Cresswell on the left and Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith in the centre of the defence.
In midfield, Ryan Tunnicliffe will be on the left, Paul Anderson on the right and Cole Skuse and Luke Hyam in the middle. Up front, David McGoldrick will be partnered by Daryl Murphy.
McCarthy believes Brighton haven’t suffered too much in the wake of Gus Poyet’s departure with his successor Oscar Garcia taking a similar approach to the game: "He’s inherited a good squad, there was a bit of fallout from Gus going, but he inherited good players and a way of playing which has continued.
"He probably understands that and his players have played that way and he’s signed some. He’s signed Keith Andrews, who was here, to fit into a certain way of playing.
"There’s not been a great change where he’s come in and completely changed everything, the way they play, he’s just continued in his own way, but nevertheless still playing the same way as they did before.”
Loanee Andrews, who was on loan with the Blues from Blackburn in the first half of the 2011/12 season, scoring nine goals in 19 starts and one sub appearance, is back having been unavailable for last week’s 3-1 victory over his parent club Bolton Wanderers.
Midfielders Kemy Agustien, who has been out with groin and hamstring injuries, and Jake Forster-Caskey (groin) are both back in training and expected to make the trip.
Striker Leo Ulloa is suspended, while midfielders Liam Bridcutt (hernia) and Andrea Orlandi (knee) are still sidelined after surgery.
Frontman Craig Mackail-Smith (Achilles’) isn’t expected back until November and winger Will Hoskins is another long-term absentee (knee).
Historically, Town have the upper hand, having won 27 of the games (24 in the league) between the sides, Brighton 22 (20) and with 13 (12) ending in draws. Albion are in 10th in the Championship on 12 points, four places and two points above the Blues.
The Seagulls were last at Portman Road on New Year’s Day when Town fell to a home defeat for the first time under Mick McCarthy as the visitors ran out 3-0 victors.
Brighton were 2-0 up at the break via Dean Hammond and Craig Mackail-Smith, then with the Blues failing to seriously threaten throughout, Wayne Bridge added the third midway through the second half.
At the Amex Stadium in October last year, Brighton sub Will Buckley netted 10 minutes from time to grab a 1-1 draw. The Seagulls had put on the pressure in the second half after Town had gone in front via Daryl Murphy in the first period.
Andrews is the only player in either squad to have represented the opposition, although veteran defender Matthew Upson was born in Hartismere near Eye and was with Town’s Centre of Excellence as a schoolboy.
Brighton midfielder Jake Caskey-Forster is the stepson of ex-Blues and Seagulls striker Nicky Forster, while keeper Tomasz Kuszczak turned down a move to Portman Road to join the Sussex club in the summer of 2012. Town assistant boss Terry Connor was with the Seagulls between 1983 and 1987.
Saturday’s referee is Stephen Martin from Staffordshire, who appears to be one of the more laidback card-wavers currently in the game.
The two cautions he issued during Saturday’s 0-0 draw between Blackburn and Huddersfield — his seventh match of the season - were his first cards of the campaign, having also failed to book or dismiss anyone in his final three games of 2012/13.
Martin’s most recent Town match was the 2-1 defeat at Bristol City in January in which he booked one home player and no Blues.
Squad from: Gerken, Loach, Chambers, Hewitt, Veseli, Cresswell, Smith, Berra, Skuse, Hyam, Wordsworth, Tunnicliffe, Edwards, Anderson, Tabb, Murphy, McGoldrick, Nouble, Marriott, Lee.