Town boss Mick McCarthy believes striker David McGoldrick is back to his best having missed much of the end of last season with a troublesome thigh injury.
The 27-year-old, who spent time on loan with today's opponents Sheffield Wednesday in 2011, scoring once in three starts and one sub appearance, suffered the problem in February at Rotherham and returned briefly as a late sub at Norwich in the play-off semi-final second leg before involvement with Ireland early in the summer.
Having come off the bench at in last Saturday's opening day 2-2 draw at Brentford, McGoldrick started against Stevenage in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday and was one of the Blues’ best performers as he created the winning goal for Jay Tabb in the 2-1 victory over the League Two side.
"He’s much better from the start, Didzy, and he got right bang at it on Tuesday night," McCarthy said. "I thought he was excellent, as I thought his mate was as well, Brett Pitman.
"Yes, of course, [he was frustrated last season], not about Murph scoring the goals, the injury was the thing.
"Listen, they’ll all want to be top striker, all four of them, we’ve got four really good strikers and they’ll all want to be the top men. And Didzy was [the season before last].
"I don’t have those discussions with them, but I knew he’d be frustrated because I judge it on how I would feel if I’d have been him being in the team, getting injured and then watching us doing well, watching the other lads do well. It’s hugely frustrating for players.
"It’s the same now for Luke Hyam and Reg Varney and Kevin Bru, who’d got in the team.”
McCarthy says utilising three of his four strikers together is an option he can see himself using during the season but rules out playing McGoldrick in midfield: "I could play 4-3-3 with any three from four. Didzy could actually play in the hole.
"We’ve seen Jonny Williams playing there and he likes that going and getting the ball and setting things up. I think we’ve got good combinations we can mix and match.”
He added: "I’m talking about having a midfield three and him [ahead of them]. If he roams around he can be very dangerous but then he’s a good goalscorer as well, so you want him up the pitch, you want him in the box.
"But he’s a talented player, and do you know what? I’d just like him fit for all the season and be able to pick him if, when and where I want to. And if he is fully fit it would be hard to keep him out of the team.
"But he’s lost his slot to two players who had a great time last season. One scored nine in 14 and the other got 27 and they’ve done nothing wrong. They’re both terrific players, Murph and Freddie.”