Boss Mick McCarthy is looking for a repeat of the display which saw the Blues comfortably beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at Portman Road in December when they take on the Teessiders at the Riverside in Saturday’s live Sky game (KO 12.15pm).
The Blues were 2-0 in front by half-time and never looked in any danger of dropping points to Boro, who currently sit three places and five points ahead of them in fourth, level on points with leaders Bournemouth, as well as Derby and Watford in second and third.
"It was a great performance, a really terrific victory,” McCarthy recalled. "It was similar last season [when Town won 4-0 at Portman Road] and Aitor Karanka’s team were waiting for us to come up there and they turned us over [2-0] when we went up to their place.
"And I think it’ll be similar on Saturday, they’ll be ready for us, knowing what we’re about. We know what they’re about. They’ll have to make it a real high intensity game, and it will be.
"It’ll be a tough old fixture. I doubt he’s sat there rubbing his hands with glee thinking of us going up there because wherever we go we’re a handful for anybody.”
Town have a decent record against teams towards the top of the division this season, winning comfortably at Brentford and drawing away with Derby and Bournemouth in addition to the home victory over Boro and last week’s draw with the Bees.
"Our record in general has been good because we’re five points off the top," McCarthy points out.
"I almost get that sense that because we’ve had a bit of a tough time recently that the questions change and the feeling changes.
"We have had a really good time and we can still be in the top two. We’ve had a good time against lots of [the teams at the top] this season.
"We beat Middlesbrough here and we beat them convincingly but we did that last season and they were waiting for us when we went up there. They knew they had to play well and be at the top of their game. And I think it’ll be the same on Saturday.”
Only Boro have conceded fewer home goals in the Championship than the Blues this season, 10 to Town’s 13, and their overall goals-against total of 26 is the fewest in the division by some distance.
"That’s a challenge,” McCarthy added. "If they’ve got the best home defence, let’s see if we can breach it. We did here.
"They found it tough going to Sheffield Wednesday the other week when they were beaten 2-0 and changed the shape of the team [to 3-5-2, recently they have more usually lined-up 4-2-3-1].
"It’s that time of the year, there are huge prizes to be had, there are mistakes to be made by players and I guess by managers and by coaches with decisions, and it’s important that you just keep your calm and try and pick up a result. And that’s just what we’ll try and do.”
Having been impressed by his team’s display in last week’s 1-1 draw with Brentford, McCarthy could well stick with pretty much the same XI.
Dean Gerken took over from Bartosz Bialkowski in goal for that game with skipper Luke Chambers set to continue in his right-back role with Tyrone Mings - who is 22 today - on the left. Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith will be at the heart of the defence.
In midfield, Cole Skuse will occupy his usual deeper middle of midfield role with Jay Tabb looking set to keep the other central spot having hugely impressed his manager with his performance against the Bees. Kevin Bru, who is fit again after his knee injury, may have to be content with a place amongst the subs.
Richard Chaplow may again be on the right of midfield, although Teddy Bishop - who was man of the match in the home game against Boro - could also come into consideration.
McCarthy was also impressed with Jonny Parr’s performance at left midfield and the Norwegian is set to keep his place, despite Stephen Hunt’s return from his hamstring problem.
Up front, 22-goal Championship top scorer Daryl Murphy is likely to again be paired with Freddie Sears with Chris Wood and Luke Varney probably playing a part from the bench.
David McGoldrick is back in training but McCarthy has said that Saturday’s game will come too soon for him. However, if training has continued to go well today, it’s not impossible that the Irish international will make the trip and may be handed a place on the bench.
Boro defender Daniel Ayala faces a late fitness test due to an ankle injury, while full-back Ryan Fredericks has been ruled out with a hamstring problem. Winger Mustapha Carayol (knee), Damia Abella (knee) and Rhys Williams (achilles) are all long-term absentees.
A proposed loan move for ex-Town striker Jordan Rhodes from Blackburn is understood to have fallen through.
It's a big week for Boro with two more crucial games away at Derby and Bournemouth on Tuesday and next Saturday. Head coach Karanka says having had no midweek match will have been beneficial to his players.
"We needed to have a week like we have had this week because we have played nine games in a month and it has been very difficult,” he told the Teesside Gazette.
"I made a lot of changes but mentally it has been very difficult for everybody and now we are much better.
"We have been able to train all week and the atmosphere is very good. Now we have three important games starting on Saturday.
"We had two days to rest and forget everything because the last month has been very difficult for everybody, and from Tuesday we have worked because it is important that we recover our intensity.
"Ipswich played much better than us when we played them at Portman Road earlier this season. We need to find our intensity to match them but I think we are going in to this game in a very good shape. We can recover our intensity by training every day with that intensity.”
Former Blues skipper Grant Leadbitter joined the Teessiders on a Bosman transfer in the summer of 2012 after leaving Portman Road. The midfielder has scored 13 goals this season.
Town academy coach Kieron Dyer was with Middlesbrough during the second half of 2012/13 but no current member of the squad has played for Boro.
The Blues have had the better of Middlesbrough over the years, winning 30 games (28 in the league), drawing 14 (14) and losing 18 (17).
Boro have been inconsistent lately, having lost having lost three of their last five league matches, winning two, and scoring only six times in their last seven games.
Having been defeated 2-1 at Nottingham Forest last week, the Teessiders will be looking to avoid recording back-to-back league losses for the first time since August.
Five days before Christmas at Portman Road, first-half goals from Daryl Murphy and Jay Tabb saw the Blues to an impressive 2-0 victory over Boro to return to second in the Championship.
Murphy netted a rebound from close range in the 25th minute and Tabb headed home the second deep into first-half injury time.
The teams last met on Teesside in March when Danny Graham’s two first-half goals saw Boro to a comfortable 2-0 victory.
The then-on-loan Sunderland man followed up after Dean Gerken had saved Carayol’s shot in the 29th minute, then headed home a Leadbitter corner moments before half-time.
Saturday’s referee is Select Group official Mike Jones from Chester, who has shown 86 yellow cards and six red in 24 games so far this season.
Jones’s most recent Town game was the 1-0 Carling Cup quarter-final victory over West Brom at Portman Road in December 2010.
Coincidentally, it was Boro midfielder Leadbitter who scored the Blues’ winning goal from the penalty spot after Carlos Edwards had been felled by Graham Dorrans.
Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Clarke, Skuse, Tabb, Bru, Chaplow, Bishop, Anderson, Parr, S Hunt, Connolly, Henshall, Stewart, Murphy, Sears, Wood, Varney, McGoldrick.