Town boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that Kevin Bru, Larsen Touré and Tommy Oar will all miss Saturday’s live Sky game away against the MK Dons, but better news is that Ryan Fraser is expected to be back at Portman Road tomorrow and he and Teddy Bishop are both closing in on a return to action.
Bru and Touré have been out of action in recent weeks with hamstring and groin injuries respectively, while Oar suffered a knee problem in training last week.
"Kevin’s not ready for this game, Larsen isn’t, Tommy Oar isn’t, he opened his knee up last week on Thursday morning,” McCarthy said.
"Friday morning he came in and reported a sore knee and he’s not trained since. He opened his knee up, his medial ligament was damaged.”
McCarthy doesn’t think it’s a problem which will keep the Australian international out for long.
"I don’t think so,” he added. "He’s out on the grass today. It was just one of those, he just blocked a shot and it forced his toe back and it opened his knee up. It’s a horrible injury because it’s so accidental, but accidents happen on the training ground.”
The Blues have been without on-loan AFC Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser since he suffered a knee ligament injury in early October but McCarthy is expecting the Scotland U21 international to be back on Friday - he has undergone his rehab with his parent club - and says he’s not far off a return to match action.
"I think Ryan might be back with us tomorrow, I’m hoping that that might be the case,” he said.
"If they’re letting him come back he must be fully fit, training fully, tackling, twisting, turning, landing, jumping, doing all his football movements, so he must be all right and it must be with a view that he can train fully.
"What is he, 21? It won’t take him long to get back to his full fitness. He’ll have been doing his fitness work anyway. He’s coming back and he’ll be involved.
"It’s really difficult [to say precisely when he’ll be back in a matchday squad] when I haven’t seen him but if he’s doing all his football movements, they’ve let him go, they’re saying he’s fully fit to come back to us to train - to be involved, not to come back to continue his rehab - that he’s training fully, that tells you that really he’s not far off.”
Teddy Bishop, who has missed the whole season so far with shin splints and hamstring problems, is also closing in on making his return to the team.
"Teddy Bishop is the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time,” McCarthy continued. "He’s had treatment on his back which was contributing to his hamstrings being tight and he’s trained and, as I say, he’s the happiest, the most content he’s been because he thinks he’s getting there now. Fingers crossed we’ll have him back PDQ.”
Luke Varney, who has been out since the play-offs last season with a ruptured achilles, has played the first half of the last two U21s games but the Blues boss says the club is taking his recovery slowly.
"He’s OK, he’s feeling the after effects of training and playing as hard as he has been, so we’ve just taken it off him a little bit now and are letting him rest up.
"The danger is, at any stage in your career, at 22 but at 32 it’ll be even more evident, that if you come back and push yourself trying to get fit that couple of weeks earlier you might pull something.
"It won’t be the achilles because that’s fine but you’d end up with a tight hamstring or a sore thigh or a groin problem and that puts you back after all the work. So we’re just going gently on him and he’ll be OK.”
Varney is currently a free agent having been released by Blackburn at the end of the season following his loan spell with the Blues but is in talks regarding a contract at Portman Road.
Meanwhile McCarthy says skipper Luke Chambers has been suffering with a back injury but will be OK to face the MK Dons.
"He’s fine, he hasn’t been training, he’s just had a bit of a problem with his back, but he’s fine and he’ll be playing on Saturday. He had an injection in his back.”
Striker David McGoldrick is continuing to make progress following his groin injury having returned as a late sub in the 2-0 defeat to Middlesbrough last Friday.