Town face Bristol City at Portman Road this evening looking to end 2016 on a winning note. The Robins’ visit is the first of two games over the New Year weekend against sides currently struggling for form with the Blues travelling to QPR on Monday.
Bristol City have won just one of their last 10 in all competitions, losing eight including their last four, their single win having come against Town at Ashton Gate earlier this month.
Similarly, the West Londoners have also won one of their last 10 in the Championship and have lost their last six, including the 3-0 loss at Portman Road in November.
Town are still to win back-to-back games this season, but manager Mick McCarthy says the Blues won’t be the only ones seeing the fixtures as an opportunity to get back to form.
"They’ll be saying exactly the same thing,” he pointed out. "Sadly we’ve not been a force to be reckoned with.
"That’s what we’ve got to change. It’s got to change, we’ve got to create a more positive environment at the ground by our play. And if we don’t, then we’ll be in trouble.”
He added: "We’re all looking to change it around, everybody’s working to that end. We’re all trying to be more positive, all trying to be on a winning team because we all feel better when it’s like that.”
Reflecting on the game at Ashton Gate at the start of the month which ended in a 2-0 victory for the home side, he said: "I thought they were OK, there wasn’t a lot in it, a penalty and a wonder goal.
"But it’s not about them, it’s about us, it’s about how we play. Whatever we do, we’ve got to try and counter that with how we play and be more positive and more forceful."
McCarthy felt his side was forced to play on the back foot by Fulham during Monday’s 2-0 defeat at Portman Road.
"You have to give them a bit of credit, they’re a good side,” he added. "I thought they played very well and we just got pushed back, we got a bit too deep, our two wide players got a bit too deep.
"But they were conscious of looking after the full-backs, to be fair to them their full-backs have created more full-backs and more goals than anybody else.”
Having made two substitutions at the break, David McGoldrick and Leon Best replaced Brett Pitman and Andre Dozzell, he moved to a back three.
"It gave us a better foothold in the game having two strikers up front, although it left us a bit bare-arsed at the back because they had chances,” he explained.
"Something had to be done on Boxing Day, we were getting mullered. There had to be a change, it didn’t matter what it was, there had to be something.”
Does he feel a 3-5-2 system suits the personnel at his disposal? "Possibly. I think Myles Kenlock would make a good left wing-back. Jonas Knudsen might end up being one of the left-sided centre-backs, he’s a good defender, Jonas.
"Myles might have a bit more in terms of quality at the end of it, but we’ll see if he plays on Friday, won’t we?
"It does [suit our personnel] but I’m not always a fan of it, however, sometimes it’s horses for courses.”
McCarthy seems unlikely to start in that system tonight, but he could switch back to the 4-4-2 formation which he has tended to prefer throughout his career.
Bartosz Bialkowski will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers again at right-back and Adam Webster and Christophe Berra the central defenders.
McCarthy hinted yesterday that Myles Kenlock would start at left-back even if Knudsen was over the foot injury which has been hampering him in recent days.
In midfield, ex-Bristol City stalwart Cole Skuse could be joined in the centre by Kevin Bru, while Grant Ward may well be preferred to Freddie Sears in the wide right role.
Tom Lawrence will continue on the left with David McGoldrick likely to be recalled up front alongside another former Robin, Brett Pitman.
Bristol City right-back Adam Matthews is rated 50/50 tonight’s game due to a problem at the top of his calf and bottom of his hamstring. Mark Little looks set to deputise. Midfielder Gary O'Neil is a definite absentee due to a calf strain.
Looking back on his 2016, Robins manager Lee Johnson was happy with how things were progressing until the start of their recent run.
"I reflect on 2016 as being a fantastic year until November,” Johnson told Bristol City Player HD.
"I was loving life up until then! There’s no denying it’s been a difficult six to eight weeks for us.
"But we’re Bristol City and we fight. The Championship will never be easy. We lick our wounds and we go again.
"We’ve got a group that can roll up their sleeves and dig in. We’ve got to fight and that’ll be the challenge at Ipswich.
"The game is another good one for us against an historic club like ourselves and I’m looking forward to hopefully being on the right end of a result.”
Historically, Town have the edge, winning 28 (26 in the league), losing 20 (20) and drawing 13 (13). The Blues are without a win in their last five matches against the Robins but Bristol City have gone 11 games at Portman Road since their last win which came back in September 1978.
In the fixture between the clubs earlier this month a Lee Tomlin penalty and a goal of the season contender from Luke Freeman saw Bristol City to a 2-0 victory over the Blues at Ashton Gate.
Tomlin converted from the spot after Bialkowski had been adjudged to have fouled Tammy Abraham in the 31st minute, then Freeman smashed home a volley on 72 to seal the three points with McGoldrick having come closest for Town when he hit the post earlier in the second half.
Last time the teams met at Portman Road, in September last year, Ryan Fraser netted an 86th minute equaliser as the sides drew 2-2.
Skipper Chambers headed Town in front a minute after the break but quick-fire goals from Freeman and Jonathan Kodjia gave the Robins the lead before Fraser’s late equaliser.
Skuse moved to the Blues from his hometown club, who he had joined as a schoolboy, following their relegation in the summer of 2013 after making 245 starts and 62 sub appearances, and scoring nine times.
Keeper Dean Gerken also left Ashton Gate the same summer, joining the Blues after a trial during pre-season ahead of 2013/14, having made 60 appearances for the Robins after signing from Colchester in July 2009.
Pitman was with the Robins from 2010 to 2012 between his two spells with AFC Bournemouth.
While with Bristol City he scored 20 goals in 36 starts and 45 games from the bench. Town assistant manager Terry Connor played for the Robins between 1991 and 1993.
City boss Johnson, a close friend of Skuse from their playing days together at Ashton Gate, was born in Suffolk during his father Gary’s time as a player with Newmarket Town.
Tonight’s referee is David Coote from Nottinghamshire, who has shown 79 yellow cards and two red in 21 games so far this season.
Coote’s most recent Town match was the 1-1 draw with Norwich City in August in which he booked only one Canary and also ruled out what replays showed as a perfectly good Jonathan Douglas goal, his linesman having wrongly flagged for offside.
Prior to that he was in charge of the 2-2 FA Cup draw at home to Portsmouth in January, in which he yellow-carded Cole Skuse and one visiting player.
He also took control of the 0-0 home draw with Cardiff in October last year in which he booked eight players, Tommy Smith, Cole Skuse and Kevin Bru as well as five of the visitors.
He also refereed the 2-2 draw with Brentford on the opening day of last season when he booked only Bees' midfielder Jota.
Coote was also the man in the middle in the 3-1 defeat at Cardiff in October 2014, in which he booked Tyrone Mings and two home players, the 2-1 defeat at Reading on the opening day of the 2013/14 season and the 3-1 home loss to Wigan later that campaign.
During the season prior to that he took control of the 2-1 defeat at Hull and the 3-0 home victory over Millwall.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Emmanuel, Kenlock, Webster, Berra, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Dozzell, Ward, Lawrence, Varney, McGoldrick, Sears, Best, Pitman.