Boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that skipper Luke Chambers will return to the side when the Blues face rock bottom Bolton Wanderers at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon and also revealed that fellow centre-half Adam Webster is expected to play for the U23s at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
"He’s fine, he’s trained, he’s now been out on the grass for a while and he’s trained all week,” McCarthy said regarding his captain, who has missed the last three league games with an ankle injury.
"He trained with us on Thursday and Friday, with the squad. I’m delighted to have him back.”
In addition to his role at the centre of the defence, McCarthy says the Blues have missed Chambers’s other qualities during his spell on the sidelines.
"I think we’d have had a far better chance of getting back in that game at QPR on Saturday if Chambo had been playing, just with that leadership that he brings and what he demands from people,” he added. "That was lacking on Saturday after the second goal, that’s disappointing.”
McCarthy confirmed that the 31-year-old will return to his backline: "There’s no tough call putting Chambo back in, none whatsoever.”
He says there are no new injuries ahead of Saturday’s match: "They’re all OK, they’re all fine.”
Regarding Webster, who has also been out with an ankle injury, and Tommy Smith, who has had a hamstring problem, he said: "Adam’s out training, he’s fine, he’s looking to play on Tuesday at Nottingham.
"Tommy Smith had a bit of a setback but he’ll be hoping to be back on the pitches on Monday.”
Luke Hyam, who has recently missed training having played three U23s games as he continues his comeback from the knee injury he suffered in pre-season, is also due back on the Playford Road turf next week.
"I’m hoping he’s going to be out training again with Tommy on Monday but we’ll wait and see what the weekend brings,” McCarthy added.
On-loan Manchester City man Bersant Celina had been expected to make his first Championship start against the Trotters but that may now be in doubt with the Kosovo international not having trained until Thursday this week due to a dead leg.
Midfielder Tristan Nydam, who suffered a kick to the leg while away with the England U19s, is fit and has trained.
Emyr Huws remains unavailable with his achilles injury, which McCarthy confirmed, as things stand, won’t require surgery.
"He was going to have an op and, of course, an operation is the last port of call, it should always be done conservatively, I think,” he said.
"And if it can be with rest and treatment and whatever drugs and injections or whatever it might take to get it right, rather than opening somebody up, that should be done.
"[The consultant] James Calder, who is the absolute top man, I know he is because he’s still got me walking after he told me a hand grenade had gone off in my ankle! So if he repaired that, he’s pretty good. He’s brilliant.
"He decided that we should go the other way. I think Emyr was disappointed because all footballers, anybody who has got anything wrong with them, think, ‘I’ll go and see the doc, the doc will give me a pill and an injection, they’ll operate and it’ll be right’.
"But it doesn’t always work that way and once you start opening people up it can cause other problems. So the decision was made not to do that and, of course, he’s just having to adhere to the programme he’s got which is pretty much rest and rehabilitation. Fingers crossed because he’ll be a really good asset, we all know what a good player he is.”
Asked about further detail on the programme Huws has been put on, McCarthy said he’s left that in the hands of the experts.
"We trust [James Calder] to do it the way he does it because he’s an eminent surgeon,” he added. "We send people to these people to get their advice and their help and, of course, if it ends up needing doing [then it’ll be done].
"But me being not an eminent surgeon, I’ve no idea what else they do, what drugs they give him, what injections they give him, what treatment they do, because I’m not a physio either.
"All I’ve got is trust in the people that do the job. I trust BY, Matt Byard, who is a fabulous physiotherapist, to get the best treatment for Emyr Huws and I trust them.
"And if they’re not giving it I’ve got no idea whether it is or it isn’t. I’m only trusting the because we’ve had great results in the past from them.”
Andre Dozzell (torn cruciate knee ligament) and Teddy Bishop (hernia surgery) are also still sidelined.