Boss Mick McCarthy is looking for a repeat of last season’s performance and victory at Fulham this evening as the Blues target four successive away wins in the league for the first time in more than 11 years.
"It was very good,” McCarthy said recalling the 2-1 win at Craven Cottage in February. "One of the best crowds, it was wonderful last year, that and Watford away.
"Mind you, it was brilliant at the MK Dons on Saturday. We’ve had some great support away from home. They’re our local derbies, of course, aren’t they?
"It was a good performance and we’ll have to play like that again if we’re going to win on Tuesday.”
The Blues boss, whose side will be out to win four on the trot away in the league for the first time since March and April 2004, will be up against his one-time Barnsley team-mate Stuart Gray, who was appointed ‘senior coach’ last week while owner Shahid Khan looks for a successor to Kit Symons, who was sacked last month.
"It’s a wonderful opportunity [for him] and I’m glad he’s got back in because I thought he was doing a solid job at Sheffield Wednesday,” McCarthy said of his old Tykes colleague.
"We played them twice while Stuart was the manager and they were a really tough nut to crack. We played them in the last game of the [2013/14] season when Stuart was in charge and we won 2-1 and we completely burgled it.
"I think he was doing a good job there and probably that’s why Sheffield Wednesday have kicked on, they’ve brought in some signings with the new manager.
"I saw Fulham’s game on Saturday [a 2-2 home draw with Brentford] on our analysis system on Monday and they’ve scored more goals than we have, I think. We’re still first and joint-second top goalscorers, so they’ve got that flair, they’ve got that ability to score goals.
"But it looked to me as if they’d had a bit more of his discipline and steel and organisation put into them. They weren’t as wide open and having as many passes. But they still scored two goals.”
Regarding their attacking set-up at the weekend, he added: "They didn’t so much change formation, not that much, it was maybe that they had a different way of playing.
"I think Ross McCormack played up with Moussa Dembele more in a 4-4-2 rather than with one always dropping in and having more passes, I think they were more 4-4-2 than anything else.
"He played up front, he was more of an attacking threat, but no great change I wouldn’t have said.”
While both sides have scored goals this season, Fulham 33 against Town’s 29, along with Brighton, Middlesbrough and Hull, they’ve also conceded them, Ipswich 27 and the Cottagers 35, just one more than the division’s most generous side, Rotherham.
"We have conceded more than we would have liked, definitely,” McCarthy admitted. "It smacks in the face of reason for me when we defend like we did on Saturday against a team which had 61 per cent of the possession and didn’t really threaten us, only in the last bit.
"And by the way, we could have been home and hosed by that time had we finished our chances.
"We sit and look at it and analyse it but I haven’t really got an answer as to why. There are times, such as against Wolves at home when the two goals came out of nothing when we’d got a stranglehold on the game.
"Middlesbrough, the game wasn’t going anywhere, we’d both just had a chance, we’d had a chance, Gerks had made a save, so the game was a bit open but the goal came from nothing, it wasn’t like we were under pressure. Strangely enough, when we are under pressure we can defend as a team.”
He says he’s aware of Fulham’s habit of letting in goals from set pieces: "We’ve seen them concede from freekicks and from corners. It’s sod’s law that when you mention it that it’s not going to happen.
"But that’s part of the game every week, no different. What we do want is good delivery so we can go and attack them. If you get good deliveries in you’ve got a chance.
"Whatever else you do, if you’re going to put the ball in the box, you want to put it in so somebody’s got a chance of scoring.”
Does he believe Fulham can still challenge for promotion despite their current position of 17th on 23 points, 11 places and eight points behind the Blues in the final play-off spot?
"I would say so,” he added. "I think there’s a whole lot of us that can. What are we? Nine points off the top two and seven off 15th or something, which is just ridiculous.
"There’s not that many points in it either way. I’ve seen in the past where a team in 14th, whether it’s a Wolves or a Fulham, put three wins together, four wins together then suddenly they’re on the back of the play-offs and momentum can take you anywhere.”
Does he get more of a buzz out of beating more monied sides such as Fulham? "I get a kick turning them all over, everybody, even more so if it’s a team which is expected to do well and has spent money. Of course you get a bit more of a kick out of it, that’s human nature, isn’t it?”
In contrast to Town’s more settled squad, the two seasons following relegation from the Premier League have seen much change at Craven Cottage.
"We haven’t had the extremes, the polar opposites of being in the Premier League and being in the Championship,” the Town boss reflected.
"I think if you have that at your club, whichever club it is, you suddenly find that there’s a real influx of players going into the Premier League, although Fulham didn’t have that because that was fairly static for a while, but I think they were getting to be an older team in the Premier League.
"And as soon as they’re relegated the ones on big wages who think they didn’t want to play in the Championship exit stage left and they have to bring a whole load of others in.
"But they’ve changed the manager a number of times as well, I would imagine that every time they change the manager there’s going to be players change. I think Stuart is senior coach and they’re still looking for somebody else.
"That can’t help and let’s hope it doesn’t help tomorrow and we make the most of it. But I’m not so sure, I think Stuart will have them settled down.”
While striker McCormack joined from Leeds in the summer of 2014 for a fee of £11 million, more than the whole Town squad - "He cost a lot more than a lot of teams put together, not only mine,” pointed out McCarthy - former Town loanee Richard Stearman was amongst the recruits during the last close season.
"A couple of million quid I think they spent on him,” the Town boss added. "I very much respect and admire him for what he contributed to my team and Wolves, our team, his team as well, he was a great asset for me there, whether he was at right-back or at centre-back.
"And likewise when he came here. He came here on loan and committed to it brilliantly.
"It was against someone who is now one of my players, but if I remember one thing he did it was against Crystal Palace when he tackled Jonny Parr and I think Jonny Parr was injured for about six weeks afterwards, which I didn’t want but he won the ball, it was a fair tackle, it wasn’t a foul.
"But he set the tone that day and we went on to win 3-0. He was great here so I wish him well tomorrow but for us to do better.”
McCarthy says he’s a fan of Craven Cottage: "I do like the ground. If I go and watch games there, you walk around the back and go in the directors’ entrance and it’s on the Thames.
"It’s a proper old ground, the sort I grew up playing at with Barnsley, [a bit like] playing at Maine Road even, that was a proper old ground.
"A proper football pitch, it used to be one of the best pitches, maybe that’s because it’s an old football ground, the stands aren’t all around. It’s always been one of the best pitches we’ve played at, a brilliant pitch and I hope it’s the same on Tuesday.”
McCarthy isn’t likely to make too many changes to the team which beat the MK Dons 1-0 on Saturday.
Dean Gerken will continue in goal behind skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Jonas Knudsen at left-back and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the heart of the defence.
In central midfield, Cole Skuse is again set to be partnered by Jonathan Douglas with Freddie Sears likely to take up his now usual left-sided role.
Kevin Bru could replace Ainsley Maitland-Niles having got over his hamstring injury on the right, while Daryl Murphy and Brett Pitman are again set to be the front pair. Ryan Fraser and David McGoldrick are likely to be used from the bench at some stage.
Former Blues loan midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe is sidelined until February having undergone surgery on a hamstring injury, while keeper Marcus Bettinelli is out due to a knee problem.
Defender Jack Grimmer could return to the squad following an ankle injury but Middlesbrough have recalled loan left-back James Husband.
Fulham senior coach Gray knows what to expect from his former Oakwell team-mate's side.
"You play to your squad’s strengths and I think Mick’s got a group of players there that are comfortable with the way Mick wants to play,” he told the Cottagers' official site.
"I think he’ll want them to get the ball forward early and then try and recycle and win the second ball, and become more creative from there.
"Whereas against Brentford the ball was probably on the floor a little bit more, there’ll be a few aerial battles against Ipswich.”
Gray says he knows McCarthy well: "There was a short period where we were at Barnsley together. I came from Forest and Mick was still there before he went on to Manchester City.
"We’ve been on coaching courses together and I’ve had Sheffield Wednesday against Ipswich, and I’ve been involved with teams when he’s been at Wolves as well.
"He’s a good man, let’s just hope we get the result against him and the bragging rights after the game.”
The teams last met at Craven Cottage in February when Murphy scored his 20th and 21st goals of the 2014/15 season as Town won 2-1.
The Championship's top scorer netted on five and 45 in a first half in which the Blues could have been further ahead, before McCormack pulled one back for the Cottagers 16 minutes from time but the three points were never seriously under threat.
On the opening day of last season at Portman Road, McGoldrick came off the bench to score the decisive goal as Town won 2-1.
McGoldrick added to Murphy’s first-half goal in the 61st minute with Tim Hoogland pulling one back late on for the visitors.
Historically, the sides have met relatively rarely with the Blues victorious on eight occasions (six in the league), Fulham on eight (seven) and with seven (five) games ending in draws.
The Whites' last victory over the Blues was the famous 10-1 win at Craven Cottage on Boxing Day 1963.
FULHAM: Tickets will be sold to #ITFC fans on night, CASH ONLY from Putney End turnstiles from 6:30pm. Price increase on the night to..(1/2)– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) December 8, 2015
FULHAM: (2/2)... Adults £25, 65+ £20, 17-21y £20, 16 and Under £10. #ITFC– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) December 8, 2015
The Cottagers are without a win in their last six matches (three draws, three defeats) and the most recent of their three home victories this season came on October 24th when they beat Reading 4-2. They’re yet to win since manager Kit Symons was sacked.
Fulham defender Stearman spent the second half of 2012/13 on loan with the Blues from Wolves, making 15 appearances. He left Molineux for Craven Cottage in the summer for a fee of £2 million.
Ex-Town loanee Tunnicliffe joined the Cottagers in January 2014 from Manchester United after ending his spell at Portman Road early, while former Blue Brian Talbot is the chief scout at Craven Cottage, where he briefly played late on in his career.
Matchday at The Cottage for @FulhamFC v @Official_ITFC gates open 6.30 and there are bars inside for all sets of fans #itfc #fulhamfc– MPS Football Unit (@MPSFootballUnit) December 15, 2015
#ITFC fans coming tonight pubs near Putney Bridge The 8 Bells, The Temperance & The Kings Arms all welcome visiting fans @Official_ITFC– MPS Football Unit (@MPSFootballUnit) December 15, 2015
If you drive to @FulhamFC v @Official_ITFC remember roads may start closing from 6pm & local parking restrictions are still in force #itfc– MPS Football Unit (@MPSFootballUnit) December 15, 2015
Tonight’s referee is Rutland-based whistler Trevor Kettle, who has shown 66 yellow cards and six red in 15 games so far this season.
Kettle’s most recent Town match was the 4-4 draw at Derby in October 2013 in which he five Blues and one home player.
Prior to that he took charge of the 1-1 draw at Barnsley in September 2012 when he again booked five Town players.
He also officiated in the 2-1 win at Burnley in April 2011 when he showed seven yellow cards in total, four to Blues.
Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Parr, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Skuse, Douglas, Coke, Tabb, Bru, Maitland-Niles, Fraser, Oar, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, McGoldrick.