Town boss Mick McCarthy says skipper Luke Chambers is closing in on a return to action with fellow centre-halves Tommy Smith and Adam Webster also making good progress, while midfield Emyr Huws will not now be undergoing surgery.
Chambers has been sidelined with an ankle injury but having seen a specialist last week is itching to make his return, while Webster has also had an ankle problem and Smith has been out due to his hamstring.
"Chambo came in and, as Chambo is whether he’s got a plaster cast on his leg or he’s on crutches, he’s always very positive - ‘I’ll be ready for Saturday’ - and I said to him there’s the next U23s game [September 19th], let’s see you go up to Nottingham Forest and captain them up there, that would be good for you,” manager Mick McCarthy said at lunchtime’s press conference, which was shown live on TWTV.
"So we’ve been pulling his leg a little bit but he is making all the noises that he’s going to be ready pretty soon.
"Adam Webster’s been out and I’ve seen him with his boots on today, he’s been out doing some training with the physios.
"And Tommy Smith was pretty optimistic that in the couple of weeks he should be out training. I said that after the [next] international break, I think they’ll all be ready for that.”
While Chambers, 31, may be itching to make a swift return, McCarthy says he and his staff won’t rush him back.
"I’ve been doing it for 25 years and we’ve got really good physios and I’ve had to tell Chambo before, ‘Look, you’re not ready’,” he said.
"It depends how long he’s out and whether I think he needs an U23s game, irrespective of what he thinks. He was in my office this morning having a laugh and a joke about it, ‘I’ll be ready’. I said, ‘Yeah, OK Chambo’.
"By the way, I know he will be back as quickly as anybody. I was amazed he played on at Millwall, that was incredible that he played on.
"And as soon as he’s ready it’ll be nice to have him back as a player, but as the captain as well because he’s terrific.”
He added: "He’s a real example to any professional for me, but certainly young players. I’ve seen where managers have said, ‘I’m not so sure he was injured’, but you can’t level that against him at all, he’s been terrific.
"Everything about him, he’s been a really good captain, the way he handled himself throughout the transfer window in January and then still managed to play every minute of every game was remarkable, and he deserves the pat on the back.”
Regarding Huws, a decision was made following last week’s appointment with specialist James Calder that the Wales international won’t now undergo surgery.
"[An operation is] always the worst case scenario, but as a footballer, and having been one, if there’s something wrong you and it’s niggling away you want somebody to say, ‘I can’t just cut that and I’ll do that and you’ll be fine ad you’ll be back, we’ll just mend it’," the Town boss said. "And, of course, it doesn’t always work perfectly anyway.
"The decision was made to have an operation but [having seen] James Calder, who is the surgeon who does it, who is excellent, he’s the best in my view because he did my ankle and I’m still walking around all right, we’ve gone back on that because we think we can do that another way. And, of course, the last thing you want is surgery.
"It’s a little bit frustrating for Emyr that he’d got his head around having it but I think it’ll be better in the long run.”
Midfielder Tom Adeyemi will be in the squad for Saturday’s trip to QPR, the first time the 25-year-old has been involved with the first team since joining the club in July having suffered with illness and a calf injury.
"Tom’s quite a calm character I would say, pragmatic about it,” McCarthy reflected. "He’s got an injury, he’s getting on with it, but I’m sure inside he’s as frustrated as anything that he can’t play, he can’t train.
"And it’s horrible if you go to a club and you do get injured, you’ve not shown anybody anything.
"If you’ve gone and you’ve had a few games and you’ve looked really good, everybody can’t wait for you to get back, but nobody’s quite sure, he’s not done anything wrong, not done anything particularly right to impress us, except what we already know about him.
"But he’s trained this week, he’s had the two games in the U23s, he’s trained all week and I’ve been impressed with him this week, he’ll be in the squad for Saturday.
"Luke Hyam, his knee was just playing up a little bit so he’s having to sit it out for a couple of days.”
In addition to Hyam’s latest frustration Tristan Nydam picked up a knock while playing for the England U19s in their 7-1 thrashing of Poland on Friday.
"He’s injured, we get Tom Adeyemi back and we’ve lost Tristan, he got a nasty kick,” McCarthy added.
"I did say to him that if you’re winning 7-0 after 30 minutes you minutes you might want to pull out of that tackle, but if you’re made that way, if you’re competitive, you’ll go and put your foot in, I think, and that’s what he did and he got kicked.
"And I did tell him that if we were 7-0 down I’d have kicked him as well, no doubt. Maybe a lesson learnt there.”
Teddy Bishop underwent groin surgery last month with no date yet pencilled in for the midfielder’s return.
"He’s just rehabbing,” the Blues manager said. "I caught him coming in this morning as we were walking across to the training ground, he’d been having Pilates. He’s just doing rehab. I can’t really put a date on when he might return.”
David McGoldrick was a doubt ahead of Town’s last game against Fulham a fortnight ago as his wife was due to give birth, which she did during the international break, which led to the striker missing the Republic of Ireland games with Georgia and Serbia.
"Didzy’s fine, the baby’s been born and fine and I believe mum’s fine, which I’m really thrilled about,” McCarthy added.
"But more importantly for us, David’s fine. Being selfish, which I’m not always, but on this occasion I think I should be.”