Boss Mick McCarthy is expecting a tough game between two good Championship teams when the second-placed Blues take on third-placed Brentford at Griffin Park this afternoon (KO 1pm).
McCarthy has been hugely impressed by the Bees since they were promoted from League One after finishing second in May.
"They’ve been brilliant, absolutely different class, a breath of fresh air,” he enthused. "They really have a go, all their players are working hard for each other, they look like a really good team, a team that’s enjoying it.
"Manager Mark Warburton, when I listen to him, he strikes me as a guy with a lot of common sense, not trying to make something of it that it isn’t.
"I’ve been very impressed with them, it’s going to be a tough game on Friday because I think he might say similar things about me and being impressed with our team, and a little bit surprised as well.”
He says he didn’t know Warburton until they spoke not too long ago: "I didn’t at all but I had an occasion to speak to him recently to ask him a question about something and I just took to him instantly because he was very open and straightforward and he seems like a nice fella.
"I listen to him and he just seems to talk sense and when I spoke to him myself the penny dropped, he’s a good fella.”
While he says Town’s flurry of games against their fellow promotion challengers including the Bees - the Blues beat Middlesbrough on Saturday and face Derby on January 10th - are important, he doesn’t believe that they will make or break the season.
"They’re bound to be significant because we’re playing against our rivals in the top six,” he added. "I was asked the other day if this month is going to have a big effect on our season.
"I said it wouldn’t really because we could lose all three and then we could lose five or six on the bounce. That’s my experience because we won seven on the bounce twice at Wolves and yet we didn’t win one for about 11 games.
"And we still won the league by eight points and everybody said we walked it. We didn’t walk it, when we were in that 11-game run it was damned hard and we had to keep going.
"I don’t put too much significance on one game or two games, there are loads left to play. Unless we’ve only got one or two left, then there’s a greater significance on them.”
McCarthy says a number of Brentford players have caught his eye this season, two of them players he has previously tried to sign.
"Andre Gray’s done really well coming in [from Luton],” he continued. "It’s not surprising to me that Jonathan Douglas has done well as I tried to sign him when I was at Sunderland or Wolves, I think he’s got five goals from playing as a midfield sitter.
"Alan Judge, I tried to sign him. I had him at Portman Road and chatted to him but it didn’t happen, Blackburn offered him a better contract. But he’s come down to Brentford and he’s pulling up trees.”
The Blues manager says he enjoys being involved in games over the festive period and has become used to them.
"In February it’ll be 40 years that I’ve been doing it, coming in Christmas Day and Boxing Day and I always enjoy it,” he said at Monday’s re-match press conference.
"It’s part of my life. I love Christmas, I enjoy Christmas with the kids and now my granddaughter.
"I used to love coming in and having a five-a-side on Christmas Day, despite telling them differently.
"We’ll be in here first thing [on Christmas Day] and then they’ll all get off. Some will be leaving on the bus and some will be meeting at the hotel near Brentford, geographically wherever they live, wherever easiest. We’ll meet up there and then prepare for the game on Friday.”
The Town boss seems unlikely to stray too far from the team which beat Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Bartosz Bialkowski will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith at the centre of the defence.
At left-back McCarthy will probably bring Tyrone Mings back for Jonny Parr with the 21-year-old over his infected toe.
In midfield, Cole Skuse is fine despite being subbed with what Town feared was a hamstring problem on Saturday and the former Bristol City man will start in the centre alongside Teddy Bishop, the man of the match against Boro.
Ex-Bee Jay Tabb will continue on the left and Paul Anderson on the right. David McGoldrick and 14-goal Championship top scorer Daryl Murphy will be up front.
Noel Hunt is set to join his brother Stephen on the bench having recovered from his knock with midfielder Luke Hyam currently the only absentee, due to the achilles problem which has hampered him for the last month.
Winger Cameron Stewart is also likely to make the trip having been in the 20-man squad for last week’s match. The summer signing following his release by Hull City is yet to feature in a matchday 18.
Brentford midfielder Douglas and defender Harlee Dean, who suffered knocks in last week's 3-2 win at Cardiff, have been passed fit to play but right-back Alan McCormack (ankle) and striker Scott Hogan (knee) both miss out.
Bees boss Warburton is expecting a tough game having seen the Blues' 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough
"We saw the way that Ipswich performed against Middlesbrough,” Warburton told the Bees official site.
"It was a very strong, dominant performance and they deserved their victory. They are in good form but so are we with seven wins out of eight.
"It should be an exciting encounter between two teams with energy, dynamism and good quality. Hopefully it will be a good encounter.
"We think we know what to expect from Ipswich but likewise they will know what to expect from us.
"It is at our stadium and we will always try to approach the game playing to our strengths.
"I am not one for changing it or adapting it too much. We will look at aspects of their play and what they do well and what we are going to do to counter that but we are not going to change what we do as a team. It has worked well for us and why change it?
"Mick McCarthy is vastly experienced and he has two promotions already from the Championship to the Premier League.
"He knows the division inside out and his teams are always well organised and have a great work ethic.
"He has got rid of one or two players who maybe didn’t have the work ethic he was after.
"They will be organised, disciplined, hard-working and they are enjoying their football.
"They are in second place in the table going into Christmas Day and they are in great shape but again so are we. It will be a tough challenge for another three points.”
The teams have only met eight times previously with the Blues having had much the better of the Bees.
Back in the 1955/56 season with both clubs in Division Three (South) Brentford won the first game between the clubs 3-2 at Griffin Park, while the Portman Road match ended 1-1.
The following season, as Town progressed to the Division Three (South) title under Sir Alf Ramsey, the Blues beat the Bees 4-0 at Portman Road in the September, with Wilf Grant scoring twice and Tom Garneys and Ted Phillips once each.
In the following February, in the most recent league game between the clubs, Phillips was on the scoresheet again as the Griffin Park match ended 1-1.
Since then the teams have met in the League Cup on three occasions, in 1966/67 when Town won 4-2 away, in the Blues’ 1999/00 promotion campaign when Town won both games of a two-legged tie 2-0, and in 2004/05 when Tommy Miller and Ian Westlake netted the goals in another 2-0 win at Portman Road when Jay Tabb came on as a second-half sub for the Bees.
Overall, the Blues have won five of the games between the sides (one in the league), the Bees one (one) with two (two) ending in draws.
Three current Town players have been with Brentford. Tabb was at Griffin Park between August 2000 and June 2006, making 114 starts and 42 sub appearances, scoring 24 goals.
Stephen Hunt played alongside him for the Bees and like Tabb joined after leaving Crystal Palace.
Hunt signed on at Griffin Park in July 2001 and stayed until June 2005. He made 145 starts and 15 sub appearances, netting 29 times.
Centre-half Tommy Smith was on loan at Brentford between January and March 2010, making eight starts. No current Brentford player has played for Town.
Brentford website Beesotted have supplied us with a Boxing Day pub guide, which you can find here. They have also invited Blues fans to enjoy a free pint of London Pride after the match.
Today’s referee is Fred Graham from Stanford-le-Hope in Essex, who has shown four yellow cards and no red in two games so far this season.
Graham’s most recent Town match was the 2-1 home victory over Derby in March in which he booked four visiting players and Jonny Williams and Frank Nouble.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Mings, Parr, Smith, Berra, St Ledger, Clarke, Skuse, Bishop, Bru, Ambrose, Tabb, Anderson, S Hunt, Stewart, Henshall, Murphy, McGoldrick, N Hunt, Sammon, Bajner.